


a.k.a. the boy who loved

by pinkpolkadots



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (but there is still a war so some people still die), (this may be a monster), Established Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, F/F, Godfather Remus Lupin, Godfather Sirius Black, Internalized Homophobia, Love, M/M, Remus Lupin Lives, Sirius Black Lives, Slow Build, Slow Build Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Slow Burn, brief mentions of past abuse, finishes after the war, starts in third year, the Dursley's suck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 12:04:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 47,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14448897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkpolkadots/pseuds/pinkpolkadots
Summary: Everything changed in third year.It really should have been insignificant in the grander scheme of things. Magic was real, Harry was the Boy Who Lived, and He Who Must Not be Named was back. There were so many more important things to think about.So why was Harry so hung up on the fact that Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were in love?Or how Harry accidentally fell in love with Draco Malfoy. (And it might have been the best thing that ever happened to him ... or the worst)





	1. Year Three

**Author's Note:**

> This work starts in Harry's third year of Hogwarts and will finish a little while after the war. (each chapter will likely be a year at school) 
> 
> Also I should warn you that (dialogue wise) the first 3000ish words are very similar to the book. It's supposed to help demonstrate how everything up until this point in Harry's life has been what happened in the books and then after a few subtle differences things get VERY different, although major plot points (like Voldemort and the war) will keep the timeline similar. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it!

**Chapter 1**

_Year 3_

_a.k.a. The year Harry ~~hated~~ had completely  neutral feelings for Draco Malfoy_

Harry was holding his breath.

The whole room, everyone in it, it all seemed frozen in places Harry was afraid that if he breathed the whole room would relax back into chaotic motion; then he’d be forced to make a decision.

Sirius Black continued to silently stare at Harry from his sprawled position on the floor. Harry’s wand poised to ... well he actually wasn’t sure what he planned to do. In theory it had been so easy. Days ago, in the safety of his dormitory it had all seemed so simple. He’d been so sure that if the opportunity presented itself he would enact his vengeance; now he didn’t know what that actually meant.

Crookshanks wasn’t making it any easier. The cat playing Sirius’ valiant knight. The gigantic ball of fluff had placed himself protectively over Harry’s parents’ killer.

Then the perfect silence was broken and everyone listened to the thundering of footsteps downstairs. Suddenly Hermione was yelling for help, but Harry wasn’t listening.

He still had yet to breathe.

Professor Lupin barreled into the room in a flurry of movement and red sparks. Then Lupin too froze, only for a second his eyes widening as he took in the sight of Sirius.

One slow blink later Professor Lupin had scanned the rest of the room.

An _expelliarmus_ later Lupin had three more wands clenched in his right hand.

Harry felt hallow. He wasn’t sure what to feel. On the one hand he was upset that he hadn’t avenged his parents, and yet on the other he was the tiniest bit relieved that the decision was no longer his to make.

Lupin took a deep breath, and Harry silently joined him. In the time Harry had known Lupin, he’d always thought the man had this inexplicably calming presence. Harry was especially grateful for it now.

The professor, having now composed himself, turned to Sirius Black. “Where is he, Sirius?”

_Betrayal._

It burned hot up Harry’s throat. He had trusted Lupin, and suddenly the man felt like a stranger.

Black didn’t move, despite the fact that there was no longer an immediate threat holding him in place. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of Lupin. Without so much as a glance away from Lupin, Black lifted his hand and pointed at Ron.

“But then ...” Lupin said slowly, it looked as if a million things were trying to piece themselves together in his brain, “... why hasn’t he shown himself before now? Unless –“ his eyes were carefully searching Black for an answer, he looked like he so desperately wanted to understand for a second and then everything seemed to click in Lupin’s head. Harry wished Lupin could’ve had that discovery aloud so that everyone else in the room would be on the same page. Before Harry could express his confusion, Lupin spoke again, “-unless he was the one ... unless you switched ... without telling me?”

By the end Lupin looked so miserable, but Black just kept his eyes glued to Lupin as he nodded with a slight jerk of his head.

At this point Harry was pretty sure he could have: run out of the room, grabbed Dumbledore out of his office, dragged the Headmaster here, and neither of the two adults before him would’ve noticed. Or even moved.

“Professor Lupin,” Harry suddenly interrupted, not quite sure he wanted to take the risk, especially given the fact that his wand was currently in Lupins careful grip. “What’s going-“

Harry could not believe his eyes. Lupin had lowered his wand, transferring it to his other hand (the had holding Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s wands). He then offered his free hand to help Black stand up. Crookshanks leapt quickly out of the way as Black was lifted from the ground and pulled into a tight embrace. And then the two pulled back their foreheads resting against one another, eyes closed. Sirius’ hands were cupping Lupin’s face like it was the most precious thing he’d ever held, and Lupin was _smiling._

Harry felt sick. Lupin had said he was James’ friend, and yet he was ... well Harry wasn’t exactly sure what exactly the man was doing; but it definitely wasn’t something you did with a killer. Let alone your friend’s killer.

“I don’t believe it!” Hermione yelled, she was furious. The two slowly pulled apart and turned to her. “You – you –“

“Hermione –“

“- you and him!”

“Hermione calm down-“

“I didn’t tell anyone!” she shrieked. “I’ve been covering for you –“

“Hermione, listen to me, please!” Lupin yelled. It was startling, he wasn’t usually one to raise his voice and the three students were all caught off guard. “I can explain –“

Lupin suddenly sounded composed, and Harry didn’t know how. The boy could feel himself shaking with barely contained rage. “I trusted you, and all this time you’ve been his – his –“ Harry was going to say friend, but that world felt wrong looking at the two of them now.

Everything felt _wrong_.

“You’re wrong,” said Lupin. “I haven’t,” Lupin closed his eyes and shook his head for a second. “I have not seen, nor heard from Sirius in twelve years … let me explain …”

“No!” Hermione interrupted, “Harry, don’t trust him, he’s been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too – _he’s a werewolf_!”

Harry continued to stand by quietly as Hermione threw accusations, Ron seemed confused by the fact that Lupin had somehow been hired even though Dumbledore knew he was a werewolf, and Lupin just seemed impressed with Hermione for figuring it all out. And then Harry was spurred on by Black, the man was currently lacing his fingers with Lupin’s silently.

“You’ve been helping him all this time,” Harry whispered, still in slight shock. Everyone’s eyes were now trained on him.

“I have not been helping Sirius,” said Lupin. “If you’ll just give me a chance, I’ll explain. Look –“

He pulled his hand from Black’s carefully so that he could separate and throw the three students back their wands. “There,” Lupin said as he tucked his own wand into his belt, Black reclaiming Lupin’s left hand. “You’re armed, we’re not. Now will you listen?”

It was weird to Harry. It’s not like Black was cowering behind Lupin, but he was standing tall beside him. On their own each of them had felt somehow less: less sure of themselves, less present, less concerned, less intimidating. At each others side though, they seemed unstoppable.

Then Lupin explained how he’d been examining the Marauders Map, the one he, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter had written. How Lupin had known the trio would go and try to visit Hagrid before Buckbeak’s execution and was shocked when they had left Hagrid’s with a fourth person in their midst. Then went on to try and convince the three that Ron’s pet rat Scabbers was somehow an unregistered Animagus named Peter Pettigrew, the whole time being met with adamant denial by Ron.

The whole time Lupin spoke Black seemed to radiate more and more anger, at whoever this Peter Pettigrew was. His eyes darted over to Ron’s rat more than once and Harry half expected the man to lung after it. Black however stayed by Lupin’s side, seeming somehow grounded by his presence.

Lupin suddenly started to explain how he’d become a werewolf when he was young. How he was welcomed to Hogwarts when Dumbledore had become Headmaster, and the resulting friendship between the Marauders. How they had all worked to achieve their Animagus forms in order to help Lupin through the full moon. Then just as Lupin had explained their ‘prank-gone-wrong’ on Severus Snape; Snape himself appeared out from under Harry’s own abandoned invisibility cloak.

“You’re wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?” Snape said seeming all too pleased with himself. “I’ve just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your Potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along.” Harry was suddenly reminded of how Lupin had just explained that the potion was what gave him control and helped subdue him during the shift. He felt that the news that Lupin had gone without it tonight should have warranted a greater reaction, but Lupin remained unmoving, eyes calculating. “And very lucky I did … lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight.”

“Severus –“ Lupin tried to say, but Snape wasn’t hearing it.

“I’ve told the Headmaster again and again that you’ve been helping your boyfriend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here’s the proof,” Snape shot, spitting the word ‘boyfriend’ like an insult. Black bristled at that.

Lupin tried to reason with him, but Snape tied the man up with a flick of his wand and chaos ensued.

Black lunged at Snape, stopped only by the wand now fixed on the spot between his eyebrows.

“Give me a reason,” Snape whispered, voice laced with unrestrained loathing. “Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will.”

Suddenly Remus croaked something from behind his restraints that sounded a lot like _don’t_.

Black froze.

Hermione tried to get Snape to see reason but suddenly Snape was snapping at her. And they he was threatening Sirius and Lupin each with a dementor kiss. Harry had enough of watching Snape acting as if here were righteous and here to dole out justice; when clearly, he had even less understanding of the situation than Harry did right now.

And that was saying something.

Harry tried to explain that Lupin had plenty of opportunities to kill him and had never acted on any of them. Then Snape just dismissed it as the incomprehensible actions of a werewolf. Which frankly just pissed Harry off, if anyone’s motivations were hard to decipher they were Snape’s. Harry failed to see how being a werewolf was in any way relevant, at all.

Things continued to escalate between Harry and Snape until the Professor was snarling, “now get out of my way, or I will make you, get out of the way, Potter!” Suddenly Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all shouting expelliarmus at the same time; and Snape was unconscious.

Or at least Harry was pretty sure he was only unconscious …

Black looked to Harry then, and he looked sorry. Sorry Harry had to get involved, he told the boy he shouldn’t’ve done that.

Hermione looked near tears, terrified they’d done that to a teacher.

Black was suddenly untying Lupin with a tenderness that seemed out of place in the eerie room of the shrieking shack they were all crowded in.

Black started to explain to the truth about the events which had led up to James and Lily’s death, to everyone in the room. He mentioned the newspaper he had received from Fudge in Azkaban. Black had immediately recognized the rat as Pettigrew in the paper’s photo of the Weasley family in Egypt. He told them about how Pettigrew had faked his own death and then ran off in his Animagus form, missing of course the single finger Pettigrew himself had left at the scene of the crime. How Peter had been the actual Secret-Keeper meant to protect the Potter family’s location.

And then everything fell into place.

Sirius Black had never betrayed Harry’s parents.

 _Peter Pettigrew had_.

“Ron, give me that rat,” said Lupin, with a renewed determination after Black’s explanation.

“What are you going to do to him if I give him to you?” Ron asked, his shoulders tense. Harry was suddenly reminded of his best friends injured leg. He hoped they could get Ron to Madam Pomfrey soon.

“Force him to show himself,” said Lupin. “If he really is a rat it won’t hurt him.”

That seemed like all the reassurance Ron needed and he was pulling out his rat and handing it over. The rat was squealing and squirming like mad. Then there was suddenly a short, worn looking man standing in the middle of the room.

Harry took a sharp breath.

“Well, hello, Peter,” Lupin said and his voice lacked the malice Harry thought ought to be there. “Long time, no see.”

“S-Sirius … R-Remus …” Pettigrew squeaked uneasily. “My old friends, what a sweet reunion for you two. W-what has it been? Twelve – twelve years?”

Peter tried to plead his innocence, but it was too late for that. It turned out that Peter Pettigrew was a selfish, weak willed little bitch. It only took Harry all of 30 seconds to figure that out, he wondered what Pettigrew must have been like as a student that made his father overlook that.

Sirius Black had just explained how he’d escaped Azkaban and looked to Harry; like the boy’s opinion was the only one that mattered.

“Believe me,” he pleaded. “Believe me. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

Harry’s throat constricted as he nodded. For a second this the people in this awful little room felt more like his family than anyone on Privet Drive ever had, because somehow, he felt like he may have just found his family.

Pettigrew had collapsed to his knees in defeat. Still pleading franticly, to Sirius’ displeasure.

“Remus!” Pettigrew’s exasperated voice turned to Lupin. “You don’t believe this … wouldn’t Sirius have told you they’d changed the plan?”

Lupin made a contemplative face. “Not if he thought I was the spy, Peter,” lupin said his word choice deliberate and slow. “I assume that’s why you didn’t tell me, Sirius?” Remus said turning to look at Sirius.

Sirius’ head fell slightly. “I didn’t want it to be true, but in my head that seemed like all the more reason, it was you. And if you weren’t, telling you may have placed you in harm's way. Forgive me?” Sirius asked.

“Will you forgive me, for believing you were the spy for all this time?” Remus asked.

The two shared an imperceptible nod and they both turned back to Pettigrew.

Pettigrew looks for sympathy anywhere he could but failed to find in Ron (his master, Harry shuddered inwardly), in Harry (who was no longer phased by people comparing him to his father), and his once friends Sirius and Remus.

“He would have killed me, Sirius!”

“Then you should have died!” Sirius roared. “Died rather than betray your friends, as we would have done for you!”

Harry took a second to wonder where he Hermione and Ron would be in twelve years. He knew that he would die for them, as they would for him. He was so lucky to have them.

Then for a single strange moment, he thought of Malfoy, none of his friends would make sacrifices for him that way. They would never die for him, and the second someone bigger came along they’d move along.

Harry stopped Remus and Lupin from killing Peter Pettigrew, and then they devised a plan to get everyone safely back to the castle.

***

Ron, Remus, and Pettigrew led the odd group down the tunnel. The three were chained together in an effort to keep Pettigrew from running off. Sirius was levitating Snape along behind them, Crookshank following Sirius obediently. Hermione and Harry took up the rear.

On through the tunnel Sirius turned to Potter. “You know what this means?” Sirius asked out of the blue. “Turning Pettigrew in?”

“You’re free,” Harry replied, he didn’t really see how there could be any big revelations left.

“Yes … but I’m also – I don’t know if anyone ever told you – we’re your godfathers.”

“Yeah, I knew – wait, _we_?” Harry asked sounding suddenly confused. He had heard that Sirius was his godfather, but what did Sirius mean when he said _we_?

“Well … your parents appointed Remus and I as your guardians,” Sirius said thoughtfully. “If anything ever happened to them …”

Sirius was clearly waiting for Harry to reply. When Harry couldn’t figure out what to say Sirius continued awkwardly.

“I’ll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle,” Sirius said looking so unsure of himself. “But … well … think about it. We would – “ Sirius spared a glance over at Lupin near the front of the group. He was trying to diffuse the furiously grumbling Ron. Who was clearly still upset that he’d been deceived, by the pet he was currently chained to, for so long. “We haven’t talked about it – but I’m sure …” Sirius muttered to himself for a minute, his eyes looking to an oblivious Remus more than once. “Regardless,” Sirius said shaking his head after a minute, “once my name’s cleared … if you wanted a … a different home …”

Harry suddenly understood and could already feel the budding excitement.

“What – live with you?” Harry asked, he had to make sure this was real. “Leave the Dursleys?”

“Of course, I thought you wouldn’t want to,” Sirius said, misinterpreting Harry’s disbelief. “I understand, I just thought I’d –“

“Are you mad?” Harry asked, clearly Sirius had never met the Dursleys. “Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?”

Sirius had stopped in his tracks, Snape’s once moving hovering body now frozen as well. “You want to? You mean it?”

“Yeah, I mean it!” Harry exclaimed. A large smile stretched across Harry’s face, and a smile stretched across Sirius’ face to mirror it. It made him look so much younger.

Everything took a devastating turn when Remus met the full moon and turned. Sirius looked so unbelievably worried, but quickly spurred into movement. Remus ran into the woods, Ron was very injured and Pettigrew got away.

Harry and Hermione were trying to get everyone to safety when they heard howling. Harry took off in a run to go find his godfather. Then everything was a blur of Dementors descending at the pond on Harry, Sirius, and Hermione. Harry remembered an oddly bright light and a strangely familiar figure across the lake before he passed out.

***

Nothing quite compared to the level of anger and frustration that came with Snape’s blatant lies, especially given that everyone seemed so easily swayed by them. Harry once again felt grateful for Dumbledore when he showed up and appeared and seemed to actually believe him and Hermione.

Under Dumbledore’s suggestion Harry and Hermione went back three hours and did what they could to right things without being seen and possibly getting themselves killed.

Harry was sad to see Sirius Black fly away on Buckbeak, not sure when he’d next get to see his godfather.

Harry was also so unbelievably relieved that Sirius Black was alive, and he actually wanted to be apart of Harry’s life (even if the Ministry of Magic and their dumb, incorrect allegations delayed that a little).

***

Hagrid’s smile was contagious when Harry, Hermione, and Ron saw him the next afternoon.

Then Lupin came up in their conversation and Harry’s stomach dropped.

“Blimey, haven’ yeh heard?” Hagrid asked his face falling and his voice lowering as if he were telling a secret. “Er – Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin’ … thought everyone’d know by now … Professor Lupin’s a werewolf, see. An’ he was loose in the grounds las’ night. He’s packin’ now, o’course.”

“He’s packing?” Harry asked. “Why?”

“Leavin’, isn he?” said Hagrid, he seemed surprised that Harry had needed to ask. Harry was raised in the muggle world though, and sometimes parts of the wizarding world still caught him off guard.

Harry couldn’t help but feel it a bit upset that Hagrid was acting like that was perfectly acceptable simply because Remus was a werewolf. Yes, on the full moon there were risks, but there were potions now, and Remus was one of the best professors Harry had ever had. Hagrid had kept much more seemingly dangerous creatures on the grounds before.

Harry wasn’t actually mad at Hagrid. Maybe the biases of the Wizarding community a little though, but that wasn’t totally new. Harry had never really understood the pureblood nonsense either.

“I’m going to see him,” he said to his friends.

They reminded him that if Remus had already resigned there wasn’t much he could do. That didn’t matter to Harry though, he just needed to see Remus again.

***

Harry ran down the halls to Professor Lupin’s office and was relieved to find it open with Remus still inside. Packing.

Remus looked up when Harry knocked and smiled broadly.

The professor gestured to the Marauder’s Map spread in front of him, “I saw you coming.”

Harry asked Professor Lupin why he was resigning and Remus told him that although the Ministry of Magic believed he played no part in what happened with Sirius Black. Snape had outed Remus’ werewolf identity in a display of petty revenge. Now Remus had to leave before the parents started sending complaints.

What saddened Harry most was that Remus seemed to agree with their concerns.

Harry was ecstatic to hear that his stag Patronus was in fact his father’s Animagus. Remus also told Harry that he was proud of all the boy’s progress, with made Harry feel unbelievable.

Remus returned the invisibility cloak and the Marauder’s Map to Harry. Then silence hung in the air for a minute and Remus seemed to understand Harry had something he wanted to say.

“Yes Harry,” Remus said inclining his head, as if inviting Harry to tell him what was on his mind.

“Sirius … Sirius said something last night,” Harry said slowly trying to figure out if this was really a conversation he wanted to have. Terrified of what Remus might say.

Remus just smiled encouragingly, prompting Harry to continue.

“He – he said you were my godfather, that you both were,” Harry said and realization donned on Remus’ face, his smile dropping just slightly. Harry rushed on though, not wanting to lose his nerve. “I know Sirius was in Azkaban – but … but I was just wondering why y-you didn’t raise me, and I went to my Aunt and Uncle.”

Harry looked up to see Remus’ blank face and Harry swallowed back tears. Why had Harry thought this was a good topic of conversation again. Harry felt like running from the room. “Never mind, it’s dumb,” Harry said eyes suddenly glued to his shoes.

“No Harry, it’s not dumb. Harry, in the weeks before your parents passed they had had started to grow distant. I now know that was likely because they, like Sirius, believed I was the spy. Harry, I’m a werewolf, how could I raise and infant when I’d loose control every full moon,” Remus swallowed, and for a second Harry heard his breath shake and his head snapped up to meet Remus’. “It – it wasn’t like I’d have had anyone to help me, the … the man I loved had just been imprisoned and I thought he’d betrayed us. I wasn’t in the place, emotionally or physically to take you,” Remus admitted.

Before Harry could even process what he was doing as he quickly wrapped Remus in a tight hug. Remus hugged him back, both of them now with sad smiles.

“Is everything alright with your aunt and uncle Harry?” Remus asked pulling back to look at the boy.

Harry once again found his eyes trained on the floor.

“Harry?” Remus asked gently.

Then Harry started to tell him what living the Dursleys was like, slowly and then he couldn’t stop. How for the first eleven years he’d lived in the cupboard under the stairs, how they’d lock him in said cupboard (or now room) if he got in trouble for say making to much noise, how he wasn’t allowed to communicate with his friends, and they both laughed half-heartedly when Harry recounted the time the Weasleys pried the metal bars off his window with a flying car. By the time Harry had finally finished telling Remus everything the man looked determined.

Dumbledore entered the office then, “your carriage is at the gates, Remus.”

Remus pulled Harry back in for one last warm embrace. “I’m going to make this right Harry,” Remus promised.

Remus then pulled away and looked to Dumbledore who seemed to already know what had gone on.

“Thank you, Headmaster.”

Lupin picked up his things and started to head for the door. Remus assured Dumbledore that he needn’t be escorted to the carriage; Remus promised Harry he would see him again.

“Goodbye, then, Remus,” Dumbledore said somberly. The two shook hands and then Remus was on his way.

“Why so miserable, Harry?” Dumbledore said turning to Harry as he slumped into Remus’ office chair. Well not Remus’, whoever taught Defense Against the Dark arts next. “You should be very proud of yourself after last night.”

“Didn’t make any difference,” said Harry bitterly. “Pettigrew got away.”

And it felt his newly discovered family had disappeared with him.

Dumbledore assured Harry that he’d made a very big difference indeed. The truth was important, and Harry had found it.

When Harry had confided that he was disappointed that he hadn’t seen his father, as he had previously thought he had, Dumbledore reminded Harry that he would always carry his family with him, inside himself.

“And for the family we find ourselves, we must remember that often times they need us just as much as we need them,” Dumbledore said with a reassuring smile. The Headmaster then left the office with a slight nod, and a knowing wink.

Dumbledore had an odd gift, Harry decided.

The Headmaster always seemed to know exactly what Harry needed to hear. Even if sometimes it only made sense in hindsight.

Maybe Professor Trelawney should take a few lessons from him.

***

After depositing his invisibility cloak and map in the trunk by the foot of his bed, Harry left the Gryffindor tower. He needed time to think. He wasn’t ready to talk about his godparents, or his Patronus, or even just Dumbledore’s wise words, with Ron and Hermione yet.

Harry hadn’t totally remembered how he’d wound up sitting at the lake by the whomping willow. Which is to say he was sitting very far from the violent tree, but the sun was casting a long shadow off of the large tree, and Harry was sitting in that shadow. He’d been ‘skipping’ stones, at least he was if aggressively chucking stones into the lake counted as skipping. He stopped though when he heard voices, the giant whomping willow seemed to be blocking Harry from their view at this angle though. Which was good because he recognized those voices.

“You’re welcome to come and stay with us whenever you’d like,” Blaise Zabini’s voice spoke. Zabini’s always voice seemed inherently passive to Harry. But after three years Harry had also known enough of the boy to know that if he was wasting enough of his precious energy to actually speak, it was usually something he felt strongly about.

Pity that Harry and Zabini rarely saw eye to eye.

“I’ll be fine,” Malfoy drawled dismissively.

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

“I’ve got to go write my mother,” Zabini said, which Harry thought was an awfully abrupt way to shift the conversation.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” Malfoy said. Zabini headed back toward the castle and Malfoy watched for a second, before turning and catching Harry’s eye.

“Been spying on me Potter?” Malfoy spat as he approached Harry.

Harry didn’t reply. It caught Harry off guard, he rarely saw Malfoy without some Slytherin goons tailing along. Especially this year, given it seemed it was Malfoy’s personal mission to mock all of Harry’s most embarrassing moments, and just generally be a drama queen. Harry picked up another rock and turned back to the lake.

“Crying cause your godfathers got away Potter?” Draco taunted.

Harry wasn’t looking at Malfoy, but he pictured the disappointed face Malfoy made when he failed to elicit a reaction from Harry. It made Harry smile minutely to himself.

“You’d think Harry Potter would be celebrating, what with the disappearance of those horrifying dementors,” Malfoy drawled, his voice dripping with it’s usual overdramatic flair. Against his better judgement Harry laughed, he tried to contain it at first, but then gave up and it came tumbling out of him uncontrollably. It wasn’t even at Malfoy. It was at life, as shitty as it was. In comparison to everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, Malfoy’s presence was actually, almost … _comforting_.

After a minute Malfoy sat down next to him with a dramatic sigh. Harry wasn’t sure what to think, but Malfoy seemed content to just sit next to Potter as he hysterically laughed himself out. Then as Harry calmed down Malfoy spoke, “well, that’s all of my material, I don’t have anything else prepared.”

“You’re ridiculous, I knew you prepared those jokes. Stay up at night thinking about the best way to get under my skin Malfoy?” Harry said still laughing but lighter now. Then he turned to Malfoy and saw the slight flush to the boy’s cheeks, realizing how his comment may have been misinterpreted.

Harry chose not to think about it.

“I never thought I’d be saying this, but thanks Malfoy, I needed that,” Harry admitted.

“I am quite hilarious you know.”

Harry just shook his head quietly to himself.

“Do you dare to disagree with me Potter?” Malfoy asked, but for the first time Harry could tell that Malfoy was joking _with_ him and not _at_ him.

“When have I ever bothered to agree with you?” Harry asked, but it lacked heat.

“I’m sorry Sirius got away,” Malfoy said, and he actually sounded rather genuine.

“It turns out I didn’t really want revenge on Sirius Black,” Harry replied dismissively. To Harry’s surprise he heard a snort next to him.

“Finally figure out your real enemy was Peter Pettigrew, Potter?” Malfoy asked, and since Harry was now regularly glancing at Malfoy he caught the boy’s eyeroll.

“You knew!” Harry accused incredulously.

“Of course, I knew Potter. Do you know who my father is?” Malfoy asked sounding almost offended.

“You led me to believe Sirius Black was at fault!” Harry accused.

“If you think back carefully, you’ll find that I said ‘thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?’ and then as a part of a separate statement I said ‘But if it was me, I’d want revenge. I’d hunt him down myself,’ it is you who assumed him still meant Sirius Black,” Malfoy said a little too easily. Like he’d probably been thinking about it for a while.

“How was I supposed to know him was Pettigrew, a man I’d never met nor heard of before.”

Malfoy shrugged. “You never asked.”

“Are you saying if I’d asked you’d have helped me?” Harry asked incredulously.

Malfoy just shrugged. “Guess we’ll never know now.”

Harry was laughing again. He bumped his shoulder against Malfoy’s a little too hard and enjoyed watching the blond fall to one side. “Do you enjoy being an ass?” Harry asked through his continued laughter.

“It really is quite fun. You should try it Potter,” Malfoy replied, and now he was laughing too.

Harry chucked the stone he had been holding into the lake.

“Do you even know how to skip a stone?” Malfoy asked, looking almost offended.

Harry just shook his head. Malfoy ushered Harry to his feet and made Harry round up the smoothest, flattest stones he could, and then impatiently taught Potter how to skip stones.

“You’re hopeless. Honestly Potter, I said to toss it like this,” Malfoy said later and demonstrated without actually throwing his own stone. The sun was starting to set and Harry wasn’t quite sure where the time had gone.

“Hopeless? My stone skipped three times!” Harry defended.

Malfoy tossed his own stone and it easily skipped seven times. Malfoy lifted a single blond eyebrow, not needing words.

“What are you doing out here?” called the shrill voice of Professor McGonagall. “Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, this certainly is a sight.”

The two didn’t reply, there wasn’t really anything left to say.

She told them to head inside as she finished her stroll outside, the sun now almost set.

“So why do you know how to skip stones? Isn’t that a little too muggle for you?” Potter asked.

Malfoy just shrugged. “Naturally you know this doesn’t change anything between us Potter.”

Harry just laughed quietly to himself. “Naturally,” he replied.

When Harry got to the dining hall most people had left, Malfoy had just headed straight to the dungeons.

The only people left at the professor’s table were Dumbledore and Hagrid. The two seemed to be having a murmured conversation, and both glanced up when Harry entered and then went back to their discussion. Suddenly both speaking even more animatedly.

The other tables had pretty well cleared out.

Harry couldn’t contain the smile he felt coming when he saw some of his friends still at the Gryffindor table.

Ron and Hermione were waiting for him. They were joined by the twins, who seemed to be scheming some end of term prank, and Percy looked to be ready to pull half his hair out in anticipation of the NEWT marks.

“Where’ve you been Harry?” Ron asked as Harry sat, suddenly noticing just how hungry he was.

“I – I was skipping stones with Malfoy,” Harry confessed.

Ron burst out laughing. “That’s hilarious Harry, you and Malfoy?” Ron kept laughing.

Harry smiled to himself. “Yeah,” he said. Malfoy kind of was, surprisingly.

***

The remaining time until the end of term passed quickly. It was a blur of everything, and Harry was trying to remember as much of it as he could, since he knew he’d miss it the second summer break started.

Fred and George seemed to care the least about their grades. All that seemed to occupy their minds was some elusive prank. Which meant that whenever Percy wasn’t stressing over his marks (which needed to be impossibly high due to his aims of working at the Ministry), he was tirelessly trying to dissuade his brothers.

“We can’t just not have an end of year prank!” Fred sounded absolutely scandalized at the thought.

“We have fans you know? We can’t let the people down,” George piped in.

Percy had been chasing them around for days trying to piece their plans together and beg them not to – well, not to do whatever it was they were being so secretive about. He’d currently cornered the duo in the Gryffindor common room.

“Please! Just do two next year, when I’m not Head Boy,” Percy pleaded.

“That’s not going to happen,” the two chorused. Percy looked so stressed that Harry thought he might start going grey soon.

Harry felt a little bad for Percy, but he had also known his brothers well enough that he’d stopped a handful of potential disasters. Fred and George had actually never had such a tame year before.

“Mr. Weasley, may I have a word,” Professor McGonagall asked peeking her head into the commons. She had been looking at Percy so he followed her out.

“Can you believe him, Harry?” George asked turning to Harry, who was playing wizards chess with Ron.

“ _Just do two next year_ ,” Fred puffed.

“As if we don’t pull dozens of gags year-round, this is the finale, it’s special,” George insisted.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Fred agreed.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Hermione said, she was reading (a book about the Pit Falls of Modern Divination) next to Ron and would shoot Ron and Harry each a sharp look when they go to make a poor move. She was banned from playing after she consistently won every game she played.

Ron had gone mental trying to beat her, and somehow enough hype built up that there was an impromptu Gryffindor tournament. Hermione beat every single student.

“It’s the end of the year, as long as we don’t do anything extreme enough to get expelled we can get away with almost anything,” Fred reasoned.

“Yeah, what’re they going to do? Come to the Burrow and enforce detentions?” George asked.

***

Things with Malfoy hadn’t changed, and yet they had. Maybe it was just that the way Harry was looking at it was different.

At breakfast one morning, Crabbe marched up to the Slytherin table with a large black hood and lifted it over his head. He pulled his hands into the sleeves of his robes and slowed down his motions to look like a dementor.

When Draco spotted Crabbe he fainted with a dramatic flourish.

Potter couldn’t find it in him to be mad though. He thought about Draco memorizing their conversations, Draco planning out his jokes in his head in advance. All at once the boy felt harmless, sure he was whiny and – a little too in your face, but something about Harry’s recent discoveries had made Malfoy seem ... more approachable.

Harry actually found himself laughing. At Draco Malfoy. In the middle of the dinning hall, at 7 a.m.

Malfoy looked up at Harry across the tables. When he saw that Harry was laughing a large smile lit up the blond boy’s face. This smile wasn’t like the others Harry had seen on the boy’s face. It only lasted a second, but it was the first completely genuine smile Harry could remember seeing on the boy’s face.

A second later Malfoy was frowning though, just slightly, and lifting a single eyebrow. Shouldn’t you be wildly offended, Potter? Harry’s brain supplied, since Malfoy wasn’t going to yell across the distance (at least not this time apparently).

Harry laughed a little louder and that seemed to catch Ron’s attention. “Have you gone mad Harry – are you laughing at Draco Malfoy?”

“Of course not,” Hermione supplied for him. But she hadn’t even looked up from the book she was reading (entitled The Hidden Knowledge of Wizarding Cats).

It was a rare occurrence, but Hermione was wrong.

Harry had quickly gotten a hold of his laughter though and joined Ron and Neville in their argument about the use of herbology in Quidditch.

Harry mentioned that in some cases, it sounded a bit like the use of steroids in muggle sports, which had apparently been an argument Ron’s father had made. Ron did not appreciate it.

“They’re not taking drugs, they’re using magical herbs to their advantage. Sounds smart to me.”

“Some muggles consider drugs to be _magical herbs_ you know,” Fred cut in with a wink.

Hermione dropped her book for a minute. “How would you know that?” She asked. Probably stunned they were talking about muggles at all, she was still trying to teach the Weasleys how to properly use their telephone.

“George had to take muggle studies in third year,” Fred said as if it were obvious.

“Dad caught me giving a muggle girl in London a Pepper Imp,” everyone gave George disproving looks as he tried to defend himself giving candy to a muggle that would make them breathe fire. “What she asked me if I had any gum. I didn’t.”

“Dad immediately wrote to Dumbledore and had his schedule changed,” Fred added.

Ginny looked up at them clearly having heard this story before. “I thought you gave her the Pepper Imp Fred.”

“I did,” Fred smiled mischievously.

“But he’d been looking forward to Divination, so I took the fall for it and switched into muggle studies,” George said while leaning over to pinch Fred’s cheek.

“Turns out Divination is a joke, and so I made him switch with me every other week.”

“Having a twin is great.”

Hermione’s eyes had lit up at their previous topic of conversation. “Did you know that the use of Divinations in trials has been band in 12 countries, as it has been proven misleading and inaccurate?”

“It’s a load of bullocks is what it is,” Fred piped in with a shake of his head.

***

Dumbledore was keeping a secret. Harry could tell as much from the man’s sudden constant lurking. The man had always been around if Harry needed him, but he was rarely this attentive.

Worse was that Dumbledore seemed to think he was somehow being subtle.

As if Harry just wouldn’t notice the bearded man hovering. He’d visited the Gryffindor common room four times, twice to speak to Oliver Wood, once to check in with Percy, and most recently because he just wanted to ‘ _see how everyone was doing_.’

Percy interpreted this as Dumbledore not trusting him to handle Fred and George.

There was now a small gambling pool in the Gryffindor house based around when the Head Boy would finally snap. Mrs. Weasley would be furious if she ever found out her youngest, and only daughter was running it. The twins just thought it was hilarious. Ron had two sickles on Wednesday afternoon. Percy didn’t know for obvious reasons.

Harry thought it was safe to assume that Mrs. Weasley would probably never know. Harry also knew that Dumbledore wasn’t visiting the Gryffindor common room to question Percy’s authority.

Dumbledore had also spoken with all of Harry’s professors before classes. Shown up at the last few Quidditch practices, that were honestly just an excuse for the team to all fly around together before Oliver graduated. The Headmaster also ‘coincidently’ ran into Harry more than once in the hallways.

Literally. He’d ‘bumped’ right into Harry three times this week while reading over a particularly interesting comic in the Daily Prophet, which had been an image of a cat jumping in and out of a box. That’s it. The little animated cat jumped into the box, and then back out again. _Interesting._

So, when Harry walked into the common room and saw a pair of crescent moon shaped spectacles abandoned at the desk by the window he picked them up and stepped right back out, which warranted an odd look from the Full-Figured Lady in the painting. Harry just kept walking to Dumbledore’s office.

When Harry got to Dumbledore’s office he already had a pot of tea ready and gestured for Harry to take the seat opposite him with a smile.

“Harry, how nice to see you, what a surprise.”

“You forgot these in our common room,” Harry said handing the man his glasses.

Dumbledore laughed airily. “Ah, yes. Sometimes we lose things in the strangest of places, only for them to be brought back to us at the least expected of times.”

The man’s current careful inspection of Harry’s features gave the boy the feeling that this was probably a test.

“Did you not realize you’d lost you’re glasses?” Harry asked, his voice coming out unsure. Harry would know if his glasses weren’t on his face, you know – because he wouldn’t be able to see properly.

The slight shake of Dumbledore’s head was the only indication that Harry had missed the mark. “Harry, have you ever thought about how sometimes the things we’ve lost sometimes need us just as much as we need them?”

Harry got the distinct feeling that he was missing some very obvious clues.

“Are we still talking about glasses?” Harry asked failing to mask his confusion. “I guess my glasses wouldn’t be of much use to anyone with a different prescription …”

“Were we ever talking about glasses?” Dumbledore asked looking amused.

“Headmaster … Can you please tell me why I’m here?” Harry asked, he could see that the portraits of past Headmasters in the room were starting to look amused by the boy’s dubiety.

“I believe you’re here to return my glasses to me, is there anything else you’d like to discuss with me?” Dumbledore asked. As if Harry should just know.

Harry let out an exasperated sigh. “Should there be anything I’d like to discuss with you?”

“I would suppose that is up to you Harry.”

Harry nodded slowly, still trying to figure everything out. He grabbed a biscuit that had been sitting next to the cup of tea Dumbledore had offered him when he’d first gotten there. “I’ll just – go … then?”

“Before you do Harry,” he said, and Harry sat back down hoping for a helpful explanation. “On a separate note, I heard Minerva tell me something interesting about seeing you and Draco by the lake …”

“Yes?” Harry asked, he was still trying to figure out their first conversation.

“Oh excellent, you just made me seven sickles Harry. Is there anything you’d like to tell me about Draco?” It turns out this conversation really was not helping Harry’s understanding. Not at all.

“Has he lost something too, Headmaster?” Harry asked. Dumbledore looked pleased, but Harry had no idea why.

“Maybe he has Harry.”

“He doesn’t secretly wear glasses, does he? Or contacts … do wizards use contacts?” Harry asked and Dumbledore just sniggered. Which lead Harry to wonder if any wizards had developed a spell that helped to correct vision. It’s not like he had needed glasses when he’d used the Polyjuice potion …

“You’d best be on your way Harry.”

Harry left the office in an odd daze.

***

Wining the House Cup was awesome. Professor McGonagall didn’t even try and send them to bed like she did after the Quidditch Cup.

Even Percy was enjoying himself (it helped that he’d finally gotten his marks back and they were excellent).

The next day, as everyone was getting ready to board the train, Fred and George finally struck.

They’d definitely enjoyed all of the nervous looks people had shared around them the last few days too.

Harry knew that they’d wait. There was no way they’d risk losing house points, and potentially the house cup. Especially given Snape’s track record for deducting Gryffindor points. Which was why Harry had put 4 sickles on today being the day Percy snapped (Hermione had not been impressed).

Nobody noticed until after breakfast.

It wasn’t until they were all gathered in the common room with their trunks that it happened. Neville had made the unfortunate decision to ask Hermione what she thought of his new sweater (apparently his grandmother had knitted it and sent it to him).

“It’s horrendous,” Hermione said after giving the orange and blue sweater a calculated glance. She frozen when what she said registered in her head.

Neville looked horrified. “Does it really, Harry?” he asked sounding petrified.

No, Harry didn’t particularly like the sweater. He wasn’t going to say that out loud though. “It’s awful Neville.”

Harry could feel his eyes grow three sizes. He hadn’t meant to say that.

“You two wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” Fred asked, appearing to their left with an amused look on his face.

“That really was quite rude,” George piped in from their other side.

Percy seemed to sense something was up and appeared next. “What’s going on over hear?” Percy asked.

“Hey Ron, how much money did you put in Ginny’s pool again?” Fred asked.

“2 sickles,” Ron admitted, the whole time he looked very surprised to be saying anything at all.

“What pool?” Percy pressed.

“Gin’s got the House betting on when you’ll finally snap at these two,” Ron admitted. Ginny had finally appeared and looked ready to murder Ron.

It didn’t take long to realize the twins had somehow snuck into the kitchen and spiked everyone’s drink with a their own odd personally modified truth telling potion. Everyone. They got to the platform by the house and McGonagall and Trelawny were arguing over the validity of Divinations. The Ravenclaws were all silent, having figured out it might be best to forgo conversation for the next little bit. The Hufflepuffs looked to be quizzing each other and giggling incessantly. The Slytherins however looked ready for civil war.

Harry’s eyes searched him out in the crowd of green before he’d given them permission.

Draco seemed to be in a heated whispering battle with Blaise. Pansy looked … disappointed. Crabbe and Goyle looked to be trying to pick sides.

Fred and George had far too much fun being the only two capable of lying. They somehow weaseled their way out of trouble with McGonagall. She knew they’d done it and looked beyond frustrated when she was unable to produce any evidence or catch them in any lies, thus unable to prove they hadn’t taken the potion.

On the train Ron invited Harry to join the Weasley’s for their trip to the Quidditch World Cup. Harry told Ron how excited he was to go.

Later that afternoon Hermione spotted the little grey owl. Harry quickly let it into the train and collected the large letter addressed to him off of the owl’s leg. The owl celebrated, to the displeasure of Hedwig and Crookshanks, before settling down on Ron’s shoulder. Harry read it aloud, at the insitence of his friends when they found out who it was from.

Sirius Black wrote to tell Harry that he and Buckbeak were safe. Hermione was also quick to gloat when Sirius confirmed that it had been him to send the Firebolt. (Harry had a feeling that had less to do with the potion and more to do with justice).

Ron was now chatting cheerfully with his new owl. Sirius had made a joke about needing to replace Scabbers, and although none of them blamed Sirius Ron appreciated the gesture.

All could Harry could think about though, was the last line.

 _See you soon_.

Was that just because after spending 12 years in Azkaban anything less than that felt soon? Harry didn’t get it. Wasn’t Sirius in hiding?

When they finally arrived at the station Harry was in no rush to leave the platform. His Aunt and Uncle wouldn’t be at platform nine and three quarters. They refused to walk through the brick wall, claiming that it was _unnatural_.

Before leaving Harry went to speak to the Weasleys. When Ron brought it up, Mr Weasley assured Harry that he would be welcome to join them at the Quidditch World Cup.

Something was nudging at his back. At first he thought someone’s trunk had accidentally tapped him. But the nudging was insistent. And more than a few people had turn to look at whatever was behind Harry in shook. Lavender looked to be about to have a heart attack.

Turning around he was met with a large black dog.

Sirius Black.

The see you soon made so much more sense now.

So did the odd looks given the fact that Padfoot so closely resembled the omen of death. Harry also noticed that Crookshanks was also there brushing up against Sirius.

Harry immediately wrapped the dog in a hug. Although Sirius could not wrap his arms around Harry in return, he did tuck his head over Harry’s shoulder.

Harry could now see that Remus was standing behind Sirius.

“Are you about ready to go Harry?” Remus asked with a smile, as Harry pulled away from Sirius.

“Go where?” Harry asked. He’d probably willingly visit the Malfoy’s if it meant delaying his reunion with the Dursley’s.

“Home.”

“You want to meet my Aunt and Uncle?”

“No Harry,” Remus said thoughtfully. “I want you to come home with us.”

“Really?” Harry asked, and he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Dumbledore has been helping me with the paperwork. I’m your legal guardian now,” Lupin shot a pointed glance at Sirius. “He wanted it to be a surprise.”

Harry was pretty sure this was the best surprise he had ever received. “Thank you,” Harry said, and he meant it. “Let’s go home.”

Remus insisted on pushing Harry’s cart as they left the station. Hermione wishing Harry a nice summer and a knowing look as she collected her cat. They then got in a car and Remus drove. Harry and Sirius both sitting in the back, Sirius remaining in his canine form.

"Is it really okay for him to be out in public like that? I know - that no one knows about this form, but -"

Remus shook his head, keeping his eyes on the road. "I insisted he stay home," and as Remus said it Sirius sat up taller, as if to remind everyone that he could make his own decisions. "Needless to say he ignored me, he wanted to be there when I told you." Harry ran his hand through the fur on Sirius' back in appreciation. They pulled up to a small muggle apartment complex and parked. They made their way to the third floor and when the door shut behind them Sirius transformed into his human form.

“Hello Harry,” he said, a broad smile on his face as he ran a hand through his long hair to get it out of his face.

“Hi Sirius,” Harry beamed.

Harry glanced around, it was small, but warm and felt comfortable.

Harry was confused when Remus led them over to the floo. An obvious addition to the Muggle apartment.

Harry was more confused when Dumbledore stepped out of the floo. “Harry, I see you have found what you’ve been looking for,” he said with a knowing smile, and that odd conversation in his office suddenly made sense. Sort of. “Now, when you step in the floo you’re going to 12 Grimmauld Place, got that Harry?”

Harry nodded as he said the location over and over in his head trying to commit it to memory.

“Good, now then, shall we?” Dumbledore asked. They all used the floo and arrived in a house. It seemed dark, most of the curtains drawn, but Dumbledore opened them with a flick of his wand.

“Now Harry, it is imperative that you do not, under any circumstance share this address with anyone,” Dumbledore said, and Harry nodded.

“Welcome home Harry,” Sirius said, with a grand gesture around to, what appeared to be the living room.

“Well I really must be going, give Kreacher my regards,” Dumbledore said with a nod and was on his way.

“Harry, how about we sit and talk for a second,” Remus suggested. They all took a seat on one of the large couches. Harry looked around the room and noticed everything seemed to be varying shades of brown, the room could do with a little bit of colour.

“Why did we go to that apartment first?” Harry asked curiously.

“That’s where the Ministry believes we live,” Remus explained.

“But why can’t they know we’re here?”

“The Ministry would not do well with knowing we’re raising you in a house of the Black family,” Remus replied. “Actually, they would not be permitting me to be your guardian if they knew I was in contact with Sirius at all.”

“Why are we staying here?” Harry asked, because he understood that Sirius needed to remain hidden, but it seemed to Harry like the first place he would look for Sirius _Black_ would be a house that belongs to the _Black_ family.

“It is extremely secure, and there are many safeguards in place,” Sirius assured Harry. “A long time ago the Order of the Phoenix used it. Dumbledore is the Secret-Keeper.”

Before Harry could ask about the Order of the Phoenix he was interrupted by the rattling coming from somewhere down the hall and out of sight. Harry looked up and saw an unhappy house elf walk by the room, muttering to himself.

“Who is that?”

“That’s Kreacher, he’s …” Remus trailed off.

“I’d stay out of his way,” Sirius offered when Remus’ answer only seemed to further concern Harry. Honestly, Harry wasn’t sure he found Sirius’ answer any more reassuring.

They then showed him around the house. Some areas of the house looked as if they hadn’t been touched in ages, but Harry noticed that others looked as if someone had been trying to tidy the place up a bit.

The entire place was four flours high. Harry was told he was allowed to pick whichever bedroom he wanted on the second or third floor, except of course the one that Buckbeak had taken up temporary residence in. All of the furniture had been taken out to give the Hippogriff more room, and the window had been charmed so that it stretched across almost the whole wall, the ground covered in a thin layer of grass and a large pile of blankets in one corner.

On the fourth floor there were only two doors. One was marked with a sign reading “ _Do Not Enter Without the Express Permission of Regulus Arcturus Black_ ” and the other looked like any other door in the house.

“This is where we’ll be sleeping if you ever need us Harry,” Sirius chimed in as they came to the end of their tour. Harry could hear Remus reluctantly remind Harry that he should keep his distance nearing the full moon.

Harry hadn’t missed that the calendar in the kitchen tracked the moon’s cycle.

Harry figured in that case he should know where exactly Remus should be, he’d hate to make the man uncomfortable.

“Which room are you each staying in?” Harry asked and suddenly the hall got very quiet.

“Ah, well you see Harry, we’ll both be staying in here,” Remus said gesturing to the room without the sign.

Now Harry would not usually have said this, but the effects of the truth potion were still fairly strong (McGonagall had regrettably informed them all that the effects would probably last 24 hours). “But there are so many rooms,” Harry heard himself say.

Sirius pushed the door open and welcomed Harry inside, Remus followed behind the boy. Sirius seemed to think that they should have this conversation sitting down. Apparently, it was better to sit awkwardly in the room, than to stand awkwardly in the hall. Harry didn’t really see the difference.

Harry couldn’t help but notice the fact that there was only one bed, and that the room had photos of the two men when they were youngers catered all over the place. Harry recognized his father and even his mother in some of them (Harry assumed that they hadn’t put any with Pettigrew out on display), but the majority were of just the two of them.

“Harry, do you remember when I told you I was in love with Sirius?” Remus asked.

Of course, Harry did, and now he felt kind of stupid. He remembered the way they’d embraced when they first met, the way they’d held hands, the way Snape had called them boyfriends, the fact that they were both his godfathers, and the fact that Remus had said he loved Sirius. For whatever reason Harry had dismissed that all in his head as platonic … _love_?

“But you’re both … men,” Harry said slowly.

Remus looked a little concerned but Sirius just laughed. Which made Remus shoot Sirius a disproving glare.

“Well I’d hardly be interested in you if you were a woman,” Sirius joked in defense.

“Harry, you do realize that romantic love, and all love for that matter, is not experienced by everyone the same way,” Remus said, it looked like he was trying really hard to think of the right words to say and wasn’t sure he had found them yet.

Harry shook his head closing his eyes. He could still remember that time when he was seven and had just had a growth spurt. He was taller than Dudley so he couldn’t just get hand me downs, and as much as Aunt Petunia didn’t want to care, they had Aunt Marjorie visiting that weekend. She’d reluctantly taken him out to get a new shirt and pair of pants from the second-hand store. Harry remembered the smiling boy with the angelic eyes. Harry isn’t even sure why he’d been looking, looking back he thinks he might’ve been a bit envious. Harry remembered the way she’d hit him when his eyes lingered. The speech when he got when they had returned to Privet Drive about how that was wrong. How she wouldn’t tell Uncle Vernon if he promised to never do it again.

“Harry what are you thinking about?” Remus asked.

Harry explained the story to them. He couldn’t wait until this potion wore off and he had full control of his tongue again.

The two men looked furious and Harry shrunk where he was sitting.

“I’m sorry,” he uttered quietly.

“No, Harry we aren’t mad at you,” Sirius said quickly wrapping the boy in a hug. “And we’ll approve of whoever you welcome into your life … as long as they’re good to you.”

Harry wasn’t sure this was a conversation much longer. “I’m 13, it’s not really something I’m thinking about right now,” Harry confessed. It was true. “You wouldn’t believe what happened today!” Harry exclaimed changing topics.

Remus and Sirius laughed as Harry told them all about Fred and George’s antics. Sirius said that he'd need to tell Harry about the things the Marauders had gotten up to, at which point Remus said that they maybe shouldn't be giving Harry too many ideas. Harry just continued to tell them about how Percy had stressed over it for weeks, and how Ginny had made so much money because she’d placed her money on Percy not snapping at the twins, and in the end technically the only person anyone seemed upset with was Ron. Although Ron admits he did tell about the bet to Percy, he didn’t think it was fair that it was all because of the twin’s _stupid potion_.

Harry hoped hear about their adventures with his father soon.

As amused as everyone was as they headed back downstairs to dinner, there was something in Remus’ eyes that told Harry their previous conversation wasn’t over.

As much as Harry didn’t necessarily understand his godfathers’ relationship, he had never felt like he’d belonged this strongly before.

The three all sat crowded around to one side of the long dinning room table at dinner.

That night Harry went to find Remus and Sirius to wish them a goodnight before heading to bed in the room he’d chosen on the second floor. The room he’d settled in was one of the few that didn’t have a painting with figures in it that would watch him sleep. That just felt creepy. The room felt big. Hedwig had flown a few laps around the room to celebrate all the space they had.

Harry found Remus and Sirius sitting in the drawing room. Remus was braiding Sirius’ hair, as Sirius flipped through what appeared to be a photo album. Sirius waved Harry over to look at a few photos. Harry looked at all the moving photos of the Marauders (and often Lily Evans), most of the pictures from Hogwarts. Everyone looked so happy in all of them. Harry would have loved to stare at each image and commit it to memory, but Sirius promised him there would be plenty of time to go through pictures this summer.

Harry told them both goodnight and they’d returned the sentiment before Harry headed off to bed.

That night Harry lay awake in his bed, wondering how much of his life would change now that he was finally home.


	2. Year Four [part one]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had so much fun writing this!
> 
> All of year four was supposed to fit in one chapter, but this got really wordy and out of hand so I split it in two. This is part one. Hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 2 [part 1]**

_Year 4_

_a.k.a. The year Harry realized Draco Malfoy made ~~absolutely NO~~ sense_

Harry made a mistake.

He wasn’t sure what it was ... but Hedwig had woken him with an overly excited shriek. She then looked disappointed that he didn’t know what she meant, and was now she was refusing to meet his eyes, obviously annoyed with him. Harry couldn’t figure out why for the life of him.

Harry decided to figure it out a little later. It was too early in the morning to figure it out. 

Walked downstairs to the kitchen. As he approached the kitchen he heard movement. He chalked it up to Kreacher working on something. 

He froze in the doorway. Kreacher was in the kitchen ... but he wasn’t alone. And it appeared someone had strapped a red party hat to his head, to the house elf’s extreme displeasure.

For a second his godfathers and best friends looked worried that he’d seen them.

“Surprise?” They chorused, sounding not altogether sure of themselves. Kreacher looked like his usual grouchy self, but the other four looked very caught off guard. 

“Happy birthday Harry!” Sirius exclaimed. 

“We were supposed to jump out at you, sorry mate,” Ron added. Harry was just speechless.

It was July 31. It was Harry’s birthday.

No wonder Hedwig had been frustrated, she was always there to celebrate his birthday with him. He’d always spent his days miserable and lonely during the summer, counting down to his birthday. This summer he’d been distracted. He’d have to go apologize to Hedwig soon.

This summer he’d been _happy_.

Harry shook his head, his eyes watering just a little. He could hear himself laugh lightly before he spoke. “This is perfect.”

Harry was immediately engulfed in a group hug. “Next year will be, I promise,” Sirius rumbled into his hair. 

Harry was hit once again with how real this all was. This wasn’t some dream. He wasn’t going to wake up tomorrow at the Dursley’s. In fact, he got to have _this_ : his family, for the rest of his life.

Harry’s cake was still in the oven, it was 5am. Hedwig had woken Harry much earlier than they had expected him. However, Harry was kind of glad he got to be there to help them decorate the cake. He enjoyed watching Hermione give everyone directions ( _Ron you_ need _oven mitts if you’re going to take that out!_ Or _Sirius you can’t just put icing on the cake if it’s still hot – it’ll melt)_ , her and Remus were by far the most comfortable in the kitchen. Ron and Sirius significantly less in their element. 

Sirius had definitely been getting better at all things muggle, but he hadn’t been exposed to the lifestyle nearly as long as Harry and Remus had. Harry couldn’t help but think that Sirius shouldn’t have to know anything muggle. Harry felt guilty that the two had to adjust their lives so much now just so that Harry would fit into it.

It turned out it was _very_ hard to find a job in the wizarding world when you were a werewolf, especially when all of the Hogwarts parents were gossiping about it. This wasn’t surprising to Remus, but Harry was shocked.

So, Remus had taken a job as a muggle summer school English teacher. Apparently, he’d gotten the muggle degree years ago when he’d first struggled to find a job in the wizarding world. Remus said he couldn’t afford to wait for a wizarding job since they needed money to support themselves.

Sirius had argued with Remus on multiple occasion. _“I have plenty of money I don’t see why you have to do this “_ Sirius would argue but Remus would always shut him down. _“And when the Ministry got suspicious about where I was getting money to raise Harry and support myself, they may connect it to the fact that the Black vault is suspiciously missing the exact same amount I was spending  – no way.”_ When Sirius had defended that he had already used money in the vault to buy the Firebolt for Harry Remus was furious.

When Harry had brought up that he also had an inheritance they’d both adamantly declined. “ _That money is for your future Harry,”_ Sirius had protested.

In the end Remus took the muggle job. And after _much_ deliberation Sirius stubbornly insisted he did too. Which meant that Sirius had sat down and had Remus cut his hair. Sirius had looked unaffected and determined as Remus cut the long locks, but Remus looked _so_ sad.

Now Sirius went out to wait tables Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. Leaving the house with his hair cut short, eyes charmed brown, his nose charmed to look shorter and crooked, and wide rimmed non-prescription glasses. 

It sounded like a ridiculous disguise. But Harry had to admit Sirius looked nothing like he did in the posters of the Azkaban prisoner currently circulating. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Sirius now ate three full meals a day, which made him look a less skeletal. Maybe it was that he was getting proper sleep, on a real mattress ~~(tucked close to the man he _loved_ ). ~~Maybe it was simply that Sirius was happy.

Harry wasn’t sure. Harry wasn’t ready to think about all of it yet.

They would both floo to the muggle apartment and then head to work from there.

Since Harry’s birthday was a Sunday this year everyone was home.

The day was perfect. He’d received a letter from Hagrid, and at dinner the rest of the Weasleys came over. Molly shot questionable glances at Sirius all night, obviously not sure if she could trust the man with Harry, but everyone got along. Harry also got to meet the eldest Weasley sons Bill and Charlie.

Bill was cool, unexpectedly so. Given his titles as Prefect and Head Boy Harry had expected an older, equally on edge version of Percy.

“Why don’t you just let me give you a trim,” Molly Weasley asked Bill during dinner, looking concerned at her son’s ponytail. She hadn’t even found the words to address her eldest son’s fang earring yet.  

“I’m good Mum,” Bill said with a laugh running his hands through his hair.

“Even Sirius cut his,” Fred chimed in.

“Yeah it’s cool now,” George said with an exaggerated nod.

“You know, if you don’t want Mum to cut it –“

“We’d be more than happy to. Maybe we could dye it while we’re at it.” The twins offered cutting each other off. Remus and Sirius just looked amused by their antics.

“Blue would match your eyes.”

“I’m good,” Bill said firmly.

“What if you were in one of the pyramids, searching for gold for Gringotts. It’s dark. You’ve lost your hair tie, your hair gets in the way so you can’t see, a curse comes flying at you from your left, and you get hurt?” Mrs. Weasley asked incredulously.

Bill just did this slow blink (and if Harry had done it at the Dursley’s he’d be locked in the closet for three days). “If I was your daughter would you be asking me to cut off all of my hair?”

Mrs. Weasley opened and closed her mouth a few times.

“Just to set the record straight, I’m going to grow my hair back out again one day,” Sirius said to divert everyone’s attention.

Dinner continued fairly normal after that. Charlie was prompted to tell a few stories about dragons. Then it was dessert. Remus was carrying in the cake and Sirius’ finger shot out to swipe his finger across the cake to pick up some icing. “Don’t even think about it Padfoot,” Remus said and moved the cake just out of his reach before setting it down.

It hadn’t stood out to Harry. Every once in a while, they’d let a nickname slip, and Harry had asked Sirius to tell so many stories from his years at Hogwarts this summer that he was used to hearing the names Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail. He planned on asking for many more stories too.

Fred and George on the other hand looked like they’d just discovered a gold mine, George’s eyes grew three sizes and Fred slammed his hands on the table as he half stood.

“It’s you,” they said in unison.

Sirius now looked far less concerned with getting his hands on the cake. “You’ve heard of us?”

“Of course, _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers,_ legendary.”

Sirius looked thrilled. “You _have_ heard of us,” he said smiling.

“We found your map,” George exclaimed.

“Yeah, in Filch’s office,” Fred added.

Molly was studying her sons carefully. “What map?” she asked. The two went silent, sitting up straight in their seats.

Fred spoke first, “just a map of the school Mum.”

“It wasn’t anything special,” George confirmed.

Molly did not look fooled, she just raised an unimpressed eyebrow and turned to Sirius and Remus.

“It was a map of the school we made as kids,” Sirius assured her. She didn’t look convinced, neither did anyone else at the table for that matter. Except for the kids who knew what it was and didn’t want to get caught.

“It was a map that kept track of where everyone was in the building,” Remus admitted with a dismissive wave, not sounding in anyway ashamed. Harry didn’t miss how Remus had purposely left out the part about secret passages.

Percy was more upset than any of the adults at the table. Maybe it was because it had all gone on under his noes as the Gryffindor Head Boy.

This led to a whole new slew of stories. Fred and George mainly teased Percy about his quests to try and find the Ravenclaw common room so he could find his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater. At least she had been, when Mr. Weasley had asked about it Percy quietly admitted they had broken up. Fred and Weasley had mentioned that Percy had never actually found the common room and alluded to the fact that he stopped looking part way through the year.

When Ron had asked about that he was met with silence. Silence and a sharp look from Percy.

Harry and Remus both knew the twins didn’t have the map at that point though, so they could tell there had to be more to that story.

“Dad, why don’t you ask Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin about the Quidditch Cup?” Percy asked diverting the attention. Arthur Weasley just nodded and turned with a broad smile to Harry’s godfather’s.

“I’ve got tickets to the Quidditch Cup and was wondering if Harry would like to join us, we hope that Hermione will be going with us as well,” he said and an excited energy filled the air. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Britain hasn’t hosted the Cup for thirty years.”

“Of course, we would be happy to have Harry to spend the remainder of the summer with us too,” Mrs. Weasley said with a warm smile directed at Harry. He had always known the Weasley’s thought of him as family, he was so grateful for them.

“Well we’d like to see Harry before he heads back to Hogwarts,” Sirius said with a weak smile. He looked worried, as if Harry would leave right now without seeing him again until Christmas.

“But that sounds like a wonderful opportunity and I’m sure Harry would love to join you,” Remus said, his hand running soothingly up and down Sirius’ back.

“I really want to go, but I’d definitely come back a couple days before school starts,” Harry said excitedly. Remus gave him a knowing proud smile and Sirius looked relieved, and then excited for Harry. Sirius talked excitedly about the Quidditch cup he’d gotten to go to as a child and how amazing it was, he left out any mention of Black family that would have been there with him and just talked about the actual game. And how he’d snuck off to where the Potter family was and watched with James. He looked a little embarrassed for how he’d initially reacted to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley’s invitation.

At the end of the night Harry could say with confidence that this was his favourite birthday of all time.

(He’d enjoyed it even more than the one where he found out he was a wizard and Dudley grew a pig’s tail). _He wasn’t going to tell Hagrid that though._

 ***

_Screaming._

Harry awoke with a stranger’s screams ringing in his ears.

His breath was coming out harsh and shaky. His hand immediately shot to his scar. It burned.

“Finally, awake Harry?” Sirius asked sounding amused. Sirius’ face took on a look of concern when Harry didn’t reply. Instead the boy sharply sat up, wincing as his scar continued to hurt. Pounding an unsteady rhythm inside his head.

“Are you alright Harry?” Remus asked sounding worried. Before Harry could even reply Sirius was at his side. Harry realized that he must have fallen asleep while playing wizards chess with Sirius earlier that night. Someone had covered Harry with a blanket before he woke up, stretched out on the couch. It looked like before Harry woke up Sirius had been working on a crossword puzzle.

Remus was in the room too, he was writing out an outline of the curriculum he’d taught as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher last year. It was for the new professor who’d be taking the position this year. Remus told Harry that he would find out who the new professor was soon enough and left it at that.

“Harry what’s wrong?”  Sirius asked when the boy still hadn’t moved.

“My scar hurts,” Harry said with a wince. His eyes started to dart around the room panicked when he realized the last time his scar hurt was. It didn’t help that someone must have taken off his glasses so he’d be more comfortable sleeping and now he couldn’t see much of anything.

Remus looked quizzical. “When was the last time your scar hurt Harry?”

 “T-the last time … it was because _he_ was with me.”

“He?” Sirius looked ready to go to war for Harry.

“Voldemort,” Harry clarified.

They just nodded. It was the first time no one had winced or looked uncomfortable that he’d said the name out loud.

Suddenly Harry was being lifted as if he weighed nothing and then Sirius was holding him on the couch and Remus had moved to sit beside them. “What happened Harry?” he asked softly.

Harry described the dream he’d just had; Sirius’ grip had tightened at the mention of Pettigrew but he just encouraged Harry to continue. Harry told them about how Pettigrew had apparently found Voldemort. Harry tried so hard to remember what Voldemort had looked like. He couldn’t remember. He spoke about Bertha Jorkins’ disappearance, although he could not remember all of the details of her capture now. He did however remember the blood curdling scream and the old man, though he couldn’t remember how the man had fit into the plot. It looked like Remus was even writing this all down so they wouldn’t forget.

Harry apologized at the end and said that it was probably nothing. His godfathers assured him it wasn’t nothing, they encouraged him to tell them about things like this without hesitation.

“The library here has a ton of books we can look through for what may have caused this,” Sirius said. He looked down at his godson’s shaky form. “we’ll search tomorrow.”

Sirius held Harry until he calmed down, they reminded Harry that Voldemort wouldn’t find him here and when the pounding in Harry’s head became bearable Harry asked to finish their game of Wizards Chess. Remus sat and helped Harry play against Sirius. Sirius was much better at the game then Ron, and Harry couldn’t beat Ron.

That being said, Sirius was pretty great at anything he set his mind to. Even with Remus’ help Sirius still won. Harry was feeling better but he still wasn’t ready to sleep yet.

“Can you tell me about my parents?”

“Well your parents didn’t get together until seventh year, but that didn’t mean James wasn’t fawning over Lily before that,” Sirius said. Remus was listening intently, seeming interested to see exactly which story this was leading up to.

“There used to be a yearly dance at Hogwarts,” Sirius said. “It was held every year right before the winter break. And in our fifth-year things got a little out of hand.”

Sirius paused for dramatic effect. Remus just smiled, mainly to himself and said; “that was a pretty great year.”

“It was. It was also the last time Hogwarts held a Winter Ball,” Sirius admitted. “A lot went on that night, but for now let’s just focus on your parents. James had asked Lily to the dance every year, but this year in particular he was determined to get her to say yes. He’d also kept me up late so that I could teach him how to dance properly.”

“You don’t know how many nights I lost sleep because those two were constantly practicing, Harry,” Remus said with a roll of eyes. 

“You were just jealous,” Sirius dismissed. “Anyway, James decided that this year had to be better than the year he’d written in the literal stars on the ceiling of the Great Hall: _will you please go to the Winter Ball with me Lily Evans? (I even said please! See I told you I had manners_ ).”

“I wouldn’t try that one Harry. The Great Hall got mad, for the next two weeks James was followed by his own personal rain cloud every time he was in the Great Hall,” Remus told Harry.

“James planned out this whole crazy charade. He filled the entire common room with lilies – the flower. That was only stage one, but he never made it past that. It turned out Dorcas was _extremely_ allergic. Lily was so upset, _who would do something so insensitive?_ she hadn’t even realized the lilies could have been for her. She thought it was just some sick prank someone pulled on Dorcas,” Sirius explained shaking his head. It looked like he was reliving the whole thing in his head. “Things seemed to just be going wrong for everyone and tensions were raising school wide, which I’ll explain another day.”

“Lily had spent the next two weeks trying to set two of her friends up and was so focused on them that she remained kind of oblivious to James’ efforts,” Sirius explained. “He used to throw notes to her in class to ask her to the Ball. They were always accompanied by the cheesiest poems you’d have ever read. Lily thought he was just throwing balled up pieces of paper at her to piss her off, so she didn’t take them seriously; she didn’t even read half of them. He even wrote her this god-awful song.”

“She’d been trying to study for her OWLS,” Remus reminded Sirius.

“Oh yeah! That was why she was by the lake. Your mother had always loved the Great Lake Harry. But she was sick of James chasing her around as she studied so she had been finding different places to study every day at this point. Lily didn’t know we had a map which told us wherever she was, rendering those efforts to avoid us useless. James approached Lily as she studied by the lake, and I was watching from the second floor so I didn’t hear what was actually said, but James sang, the two talked ... for a long time. Then James wound up in the lake ...” Sirius had trailed off. Harry was confused about why Sirius had stopped. Remus noticed the boy’s confusion. 

“Look you picked the story Sirius so you have to actually tell it,” Remus said. “Your father jumped into the lake naked, Lily had talked him into skinny dipping even though she had no intention of joining him.”

Harry blinked rapidly, this definitely wasn’t the story he’d expected to hear.

“How James could be so smart while simultaneously so, so dumb, I’ll never know,” Sirius said.

“Lily had laughed, which made James happy; it was really funny until the Giant Squid got offended. I’m pretty sure it was just trying to get James’ naked ass out of the lake but Lily panicked and tried to use a jinx to get it to let him go, then it was swinging an indecent James around as Minerva ran out to save the day,” Remus explained as he officially took over story telling. 

“Everyone was talking about it. At the dance James tried to drink away his sorrows, Snape conjured a giant squid in the ballroom, a very drunk James tried to do a terrible strip tease for Lily in an empty Gryffindor common room, Peter spiked the punch, and your parents shared their first kiss. Not necessarily in that order,” Sirius finished. Harry found himself laughing along with his godfathers. It was nice to hear stories about his parents.

To know that his Dad was a hopeless romantic. To hear about how hard working his Mom was. And to even just hear about how quirky they were made him smile. 

“I think it’s time we all head to bed,” Remus said through a yawn. 

 ***

The next day Harry was up early, he hadn’t slept much the day before. His dream from earlier had faded significantly but it still kept nudging at the back of his mind all night. 

“He’s back,” Harry could hear Sirius announce.

Harry had been headed to the kitchen but doubled back to the library when he heard their voices. 

“He is not,” Remus whisper shouted.

“Voldemort –“

“Is not our problem right now.” 

“He is everyone’s problem.”

Voices had been steadily raising but suddenly they were a hushed whisper again. Harry strained to hear them.

“He is, but right now we need to focus on Harry. We need to figure out this link between them, and make sure that Harry is safe,” Remus whispered, but his tone still conveyed that his words would be final.

Harry realized that this meant that they thought his dream reflected real events but didn’t want to worry Harry by telling him. Harry felt this was a conversation he should be a part of though.

“It might have just been a dream,” Harry said walking into the room. The two looked surprised to see him, but quickly collected themselves.

“Regular dreams don’t hurt your scar or make you feel so disoriented and panicked,” Remus explained. Harry shook his head, this couldn’t have been real. A voice in the back of his head though had kept telling him that it might be.  

“You had mentioned that woman,” Sirius said as if he’d had an idea. Harry couldn’t remember her name though. He knew he’d said it last night when it had been fresh, but now the edges had blurred and it was just Wormtail, Voldemort, Nagini, the old man, and screams. “Bertha Jorkins, we’ll send in an anonymous letter of concern about her whereabouts. If we’re wrong finding her should be easy, I looked into it last night and apparently, she works at the ministry. Or they go looking for her and stumble upon all of this.”

“We’ve looked through and found these books,” Remus said, indicating a stack on the table. “We’re still looking through to see if there are any others though.”

“Hermione would be thrilled to look through all of these,” Harry said, wishing he shared in her enthusiasm for research as he sat down in front of the giant stack of books.

“Why don’t you write her and ask her to come over then?” Sirius asked.

“Ron too?” Harry asked, because the three of them were a team, and even if Ron’s reaction to Harry’s story was just; _Harry … he can’t be back. Can he? He’d already be after you if he was, right? Maybe it’s normal that the scar just acts up sometimes … I’ll ask my Dad._ Having Ron around always helped lift Harry’s spirits.

Hedwig had rushed out with the letters.

The next day his best friends came over and helped him search. They read through so many books that Harry’s head was starting too spin. The Black family had a very lengthy collection on the unforgivable curses, which they all read through as Harry had gotten his scar from the killing curse.

Sirius had been the one to help them find everything. He told them that as a child he had read most of the books here. He said it was easier to avoid his family members from behind those books.

Remus had to go to work but as soon as he got home he joined them.

At one point as Ron was flipping through _Avada Kedavra: the Origins and Execution_ for the third time he stopped. “You know Harry, it says here you need intent … maybe he didn’t … want, to kill you?” Ron asked and as he said it he sounded less and less sure of himself.

“You realize that he’d just killed my parents, and he’d killed plenty of other families before that,” Harry said.

Ron nodded slowly. “Right, sorry.”

Hermione hadn’t even looked up when Ron spoke, she’d been taking notes that she’d organized into, _Avada Kedavra (the Killing Curse), Curses Gone Wrong, Curses That Left Unintentional scars,_ and _Magical Links Between Caster and Victim._ Harry could also tell that the notes were colour coded, although he didn’t know what her strategy was there.

The only known instances where someone had dodged the Avada Kedavra curse were in instances where the target had jumped out of the way, hidden behind a solid object, or countered with the Priori Incantatem.

Harry had read over a few journals written by Black ancestors, and although they had seen curses go wrong in the past, they hadn’t ever been able to tell why they had. Licorus Black had hypothesized that a half-blood had the power to shield against a muggle-born and a pure-blood had the power to shield against both. Given the fast that he had no proof Harry dismissed that as elitist bullshit.

Hesper Black thought that if the caster owed the individual they were targeting a debt, then the curse would fail to stick, as a matter of conscience. Harry knew there was no way that Voldemort had owed an infant Harry a debt though so he dismissed that theory.

Cygnus Black had this long-winded theory about spirituality and divine intervention, Harry had read through it twice and didn’t understand how this could be true whilst so many others died at the hands of Voldemort before him.

By the end Harry’s friends headed home, Sirius had let Hermione take two books with her so that she could cross reference them with a few other sources when she got home. Hermione insisted she’d return them soon and in perfect condition. Sirius nodded and assured her that he trusted her, honestly Hermione seemed more concerned than he did.

***

Harry headed to the Weasley’s early. Remus had spoken to the Molly and Arthur. They’d agreed that Harry would join them the week before the Quidditch world cup. And Harry would come back for the last few days before Hogwarts.

Harry knew it was the full moon that week, but nobody said that out loud. Harry had watched Remus lock himself in his room during the previous full moon. He’d watched Sirius brewing the potion that would help Remus, he’d assumed they’d set up silencing charms too. If Harry hadn’t known better he’d have thought Remus had just felt ill and holed away in his room for a bit. But the next day Remus’ head had hung low and he’d been unable to meet Harry’s eye.

Harry wished Remus understood that Harry didn’t care about the fact that the man was a werewolf.

Before Harry left Sirius and Remus each hugged him and told him to write them if he needed them. Then the Weasley’s showed up and Harry joined them.

The Burrow was packed. Not only were all of the Weasley siblings home, Hermione had come over early as well and Crookshanks was having far too much fun chasing around a few of the chickens outside. And Ron’s poorly named new owl Pig was trying to get Hedwig to play with them. Hedwig was not impressed.

Things got interesting on the third night at the Burrow.

Fred and George told Hermione, Ron, and Harry to meet them in the attic.

Hermione wasn’t sure they should go, but Harry and Ron talked her into it.  

When they got there Harry was surprised to see Bill there as well. Bill was casting silencing spells; when they asked where the ghoul was Bill assured them that he was fast asleep in the cabinet.

Then the twins had them all sit in a circle so that they could inform everyone of whatever they had planned.

“We’ve invited you because we need to test these,” Fred said as him and George pulled out three bags of what looked like candy.

“I thought Mom made you get rid of all of those,” Ron said as he looked at the bags in disbelief. “Also, I’m not eating those.”

“What are they?” Hermione asked looking cautiously intrigued.

“Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes,” They said in unison. They looked extremely proud, even though Harry still had no idea what that meant.

“What are Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes?” Harry tonight and Hermione just shook her head. Clearly, she had already started to piece it together.

She didn’t look particularly impressed.

“These,” Fred said with a with a grand gesture to the bags in the middle of the circle.

“Would you like to try one?” George asked.

Hermione slapped Harry’s hand away when he reached for the bag in front of him with the enticing blue candies. “They’re joke candies,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Harry now felt kind of dumb for trusting a candy offered for the twins, it’s not like he was a first year anymore.

“They are!”

“And we need your help testing them!”

Harry had been too busy staring at the traitor hand that had almost snatched up the candy, to actually see which twin said what. Hermione just gasped at the prospect of consuming such candy.

“No way we’re eating one of those,” Ron said with a shake of his head. He had always enjoyed candies like these, but that was when he’d bought them from an official store, they were tested, and his mother wasn’t a couple floors down. Mrs. Weasley would be furious if she found out they’d helped the twins with this.

“Don’t worry, that’s why Bill is here. He can legally use magic and counter any effects before we leave.”

“Why don’t you just test it out between the two of you?” Harry asked.

“I think everything Fred does is funny.”

“And I think everything George does is funny, so we need a second opinion.”

“We’re not just going to make you all take them, we’re going to play a game. Whoever looses has to take one,” George said as if that were perfectly reasonable.

“And we’ll owe you a favour each. At any point this year you can ask us for help with one thing. Also, this is kind of your fault Harry, you really had to find a family this year? We were going to try one out on Dudley you know,” Fred said with ridiculous puppy eyes.

Harry was shaking his head at how dumb that logic was. How would they even go about getting Dudley to eat one of this sabotage sweets. Ron on the other hand, looked intrigued. “One favour shared between the three of us, or one favour each?” Ron clarified.

“One each,” Fred promised.

Ron’s eyes grew, as if he’d just been promised the Quidditch Cup. “I’m in.”

Harry turned to Harry with large pleading eyes.

“It’ll be fun,” Bill promised.

“Okay, I guess I’m in,” Harry said.

“Fine, I’m in too,” Hermione agreed, probably more to keep an eye on her best friends and make sure they didn’t manage to get themselves killed.

Fred and George explained that they’d be playing the muggle game truth or dare (apparently that was something they’d learned about in their muggle studies class, Harry was very confused by what they taught in that class). When Harry voiced this they laughed and said that they’d written their final paper on muggle games, pranks and practical jokes. Apparently, they had gotten a perfect mark on it too and their mom had been so proud she’d hung it up in the kitchen, until she read it at least and moved it to the drawer. Anyone who failed to complete a dare or tell the truth would have to eat a candy.

They then pulled out some of the left-over truth serum from their end of year prank. Ron was immediately shaking his head. Last time he’d taken it he’d accidentally gotten himself in trouble with his siblings. They pulled out the antidote. Apparently, they’d drank the potion like everyone else that morning to cover their tracks and then secretly drank some antidote so that they could lie again.

Hermione was suddenly asking if it was even safe to be mixing their altered Veritaserum with the candies. They just told her everything would be fine and drank their vials of potion. Everyone else followed suit, no one could deny that they were intrigued.

Fred took the first turn. He turned to Bill who looked just looked far excited to be there. Fifteen minutes later Bill had the electric blue hair that would be sure to give his mother a heart attack and had promised to leave it blue for the next 48 hours.

Bill was excited to ask George a question next. George looked to be thinking for a moment, went to say something, then continued to think. Then he had a brief staring contest with Bill.

“Truth,” George said. He looked like he still wasn’t sure he’d made the right decision.

Bill just raised his eyebrows … looking pleasantly surprised. George’s face is a mask of regret.

“Explain _operation bluebird,_ ” Bill said. Both George and Fred looked equally caught off guard.

Harry could hear Fred whisper a dazed “ _he knows?_ ” Meanwhile George was already reaching for the candy bag closest to him. He tossed it in his mouth and his tongue rapidly grew to a foot long and turned purple. Everyone laughed, distracted from the earlier topic of conversation.

“Ton-Tongue Toffees,” Fred said beaming as Bill got to work undoing the charm. Fred and George high-fived to celebrate a successful trial run.

George turned to Hermione. She answered with dare almost immediately, Harry would guess she’d been thinking about what she’d say for the last two turns.

“Write a love letter … and send it to –“

“Draco Malfoy,” Fred cut in. Harry was pretty sure that the only reason that upset him as much as it did was that Draco had always been especially rude to Hermione, based mainly off the fact that she was muggle-born. He didn’t want to give the idiot anymore ammunition.

“Such an amateur Fred, honestly I expected more from you,” George said with an exaggerated sigh. “No. You’re going to write the letter to Pansy Parkinson, and then we’re going to send Pig off with it, cause poor Errol and Hedwig both deserve a break.”

Hermione looked determined, George looked pleased, and everyone else was really confused. The room was silent while Bill handed Hermione a piece of paper and a quill. Hermione wrote, she showed George, he nodded and they sent it.

Harry ate a Fainting Fancy when he refused to wake up the ghoul in the cabinet and serenade it. It was an odd experience but Fred and George told him what it was before he ate it so he wasn’t totally caught off guard. Ron snuck downstairs and charmed Percy’s eyebrows purple. Fred ate a Canary Cream when Ron asked him about why Percy stopped looking for the Ravenclaw dorm.

“That’s not my secret to tell,” he said with a shrug before popping the candy in his mouth and transforming into an energetic bird.

After Bill had transfigured his brother human again they all crept back downstairs to bed, as if they'd been there the whole time.

That morning Bill must have headed down for breakfast early, because Harry woke up to Mrs. Weasley yelling; “William Arthur Weasley, what on earth have you done to your hair?”

Then in what Harry thought must have been perfect timing that Percy had gotten downstairs just after that. “Percy Ignatius Weasley, _not you too_!” Then silence, Harry assumed it was the time it took for Percy to find a reflective surface.

“Fred, George, I _know_ this was you!”

 ***

The day they headed to the Quidditch World Cup Bill’s hair was back to its natural hue (as were Percy’s eyebrows). 

Using the port key felt weird. Unsettled his stomach and he didn’t plan to try it again any time soon. 

Being surrounded by that many wizards when they’d finally arrived was surreal. And Harry didn’t think he’d ever get over the whole tent situation. When they first set it up he’d walked in and out of the tent multiple times just so he could marvel at how small it was from outside, and then how spacious it was the second you stepped through the flap. 

At dinner everything had seemed to be going well. Arthur was thrilled that they’d managed to set up a camp fire. And Hermione looked relieved that they hadn’t accidentally set the tent on fire or anything.

Harry got a bad feeling the second the Head of the Department of Games and Sports showed up and the twins said they wanted to bet their whole life saving on the match. Especially since they had just handed their money over to Ludo Bagman. 

Percy might have been kissing up to Ludo now, but he hadn’t made the man sound very responsible or trustworthy in the past.

Harry’s ears perked when Arthur Weasley spoke to Ludo Bagman about something Harry had nearly forgotten, having had so much fun with the Weasleys recently. 

“Any news of Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?” Arthur asked. 

“I can’t say much right now; the Ministry has wanted to keep it quiet since they launched the investigation. I wonder who sent that complaint, they must not have known her very well. Bertha always wonders off, I’m sure she’s fine,” he replied dismissively.

“So, they still haven’t found anything yet? It’s been over a month,” Arthur commented. 

Bagman didn’t look like he appreciated that observation.

“No,” he admitted shortly. “But I have complete faith in the Ministry’s capabilities.”

Harry had a feeling that if they hadn’t sent that letter no one would even bother looking. It also meant his dream may have actually happened. Which was terrifying not only because of thee events in the dream, but it also symbolized a direct link between Harry and Voldemort. The extent of that link still unknown.

After that they’d been to the gift shop. It had been filled with all sorts of cool things. Harry had gotten three pair of binoculars. But they weren’t just binoculars; they could replay things and slow them down and room in with intense clarity and precision. 

The Weasley family, plus Harry and Hermione made their way up to their seats next. 

They met Winky, Barty Crouch’s house elf, in the stands. Harry could already see the wheels turning in Hermione’s head when she heard Winky wasn’t paid.

Harry had been successfully tuning out Arthur’s conversation with the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and the Bulgarian Minister whose name Harry had missed. Draco Malfoy caught Harry’s eye just before Fudge called the whole family over. The two shared a look before Draco’s eyes darted to his father and then stared blankly ahead, no longer meeting Harry’s eyes.

Harry felt ~~disappointed~~ _fine_.

Draco was with both of his parents. All three were tall, slim, and blond. In the moment none of them looked particularly happy to be there either. Mr. Malfoy was speaking in what Harry had come to accept as his usual arrogant elitist bullshit, of course he was being less obvious about it because the Minister was there. Harry thought it was kind of pathetic that the Minister couldn’t see it.

“Do you think Malfoy is acting odd?” Hermione whispered to Harry, the adults were too caught up in their discussion to notice.

Harry nodded, his eyes hadn’t really left the youngest Malfoy.

The boy in question was suddenly looking at them, as if he knew they were talking about him.

_‘What?’_ he mouthed at them.

_‘Nothing,’_ Harry could see Hermione reply from the corner of his eye, but Malfoy must have missed it as he just continued to stare at Harry. Waiting for an answer.

Harry found his lips forming the words without his permission. _‘You okay?’_ Malfoy looked as surprised as Harry felt. Draco nodded but he looked like thought the question might be a trick.

“H – how nice,” Mr. Weasley replied when Mr. Malfoy flaunted his wealth and insulted the Weasley family all at once. Harry had never liked Mr. Malfoy and he thought that the fact that Mr. Weasley was a genuinely good person was worth a lot more than the Malfoy fortune.

Mr. Malfoy shot a reproachful look at Hermione. Harry knew that it was because she was a muggle born. He was furious, but also proud of the way Hermione met the man’s eyes with unwavering confidence, even if from this close he could see the way her ears went pink.

Then the Malfoys walked away, everyone else ignored them, but Harry saw the way Draco’s head turned. Their eyes meeting for a second before his father’s hand settled on his shoulder. Draco’s head snapped back, his gaze tearing away from Harry.

***

The game was spectacular, Harry didn’t think he’d ever forget it. He had no idea how Fred and George had made such an accurate prediction. They looked rightfully pleased to have won the bet.

Harry could not wait to go back to Hogwarts so that he could get on the Quidditch pitch. He was feeling inspired.

On the walk back to the tent, everyone chatting excitedly, Harry couldn’t think of anything that could ruin the night.

Everyone was tucked in bed and listening to all of the partying people outside when it happened.

Screams. The thud of too many people running.

Mr. Weasley immediately started giving directions. He got everyone out of the tents.

Outside Harry froze. Anyone could feel the panic that had settled in the air. People were fleeing into the woods as an illuminated group of hooded people marched through the dimly lit campsite, their echoing laughter haunted the grounds.

Then Harry saw what everyone was running from.

The family, the _muggle_ family, was levitated far above those marching. They were sixty feet up, and if they fell their fate would be sealed. They were screaming.

“That’s sick,” Ron muttered sounding equal parts disgusted and horrified. “That is really sick …”

The second Hermione and Ginny had made it out of the girl’s tent everyone spurred into motion.

Bill, Charlie, and Percy ran toward the crowd, Mr. Weasley following at their heels. There were many wizards running to try and stop the marches. Harry recognized many of them to be Ministry wizards.

Fred and George quickly grabbed Ginny’s hand and led the rest of them into the woods.

Harry heard the thud as Ron hit the ground, and he couldn’t recall how but Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been separated from the rest of them. Ron had tripped over a tree root.

“With feet that size, hard not to,” Malfoy drawled from behind them.

Harry had frozen when he’d first heard the voice behind him but relaxed when he realized who it was.

“Fuck off Malfoy,” Ron snarled.

Malfoy just looked unimpressed and rolled his eyes. “We should be on our way, wouldn’t want them to get their hands on _her,_ would you?” he asked nodding his head to Hermione.

Everyone flinched as a bomb went off on the other side of the trees in a flash of green light.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hermione asked sounding defiant.

“Think Granger, they may be dangling muggles in the air but you know what they’re after. We start running unless you’d like to join the show out there,” Malfoy said looking unimpressed that he needed to have this conversation at all.

“Hermione is a wizard as much as we are,” Harry shot at Malfoy.

“Probably more so than us,” Ron admitted.

“Look Weasel, you might understand that, but do you really think it makes a difference to them?” Ron grit his teeth at the nick name.

“Does it make a difference to _you_?” Harry asked. Harry was fairly certain Draco’s father was among the masked figures beyond the trees.

Before he could answer the question, another bang resounded on the other side of the trees. Louder than the last. Harry could hear the resulting screams over the ringing ears.

A pale hand wrapped around Harry’s wrist.

Malfoy pulled him, running through the forest with his friends following closely behind them.

Malfoy said something about Hermione keeping her _big bushy head down_ , which earned a shout from Ron, but everyone kept moving.

They passed others scattered through the woods, all looking nervous. Everyone looked somewhere between nervous and terrified.

They slowed down as they got further from the camp.

As Malfoy dropped his wrist Harry’s hands went to his pockets. Then he made an unsettling realization. “I’ve lost my wand.”

“Seriously Potter?” Malfoy asked looking frustrated.

“Maybe if you hadn’t led me on a mad dash through the trees –“

“You are _not_ blaming this on me,” Malfoy snarled.

Hermione and Ron lifted their wands higher to try and illuminate more of the ground around them to find it.

“Maybe you left it in the tent,” Ron suggested.

“Or it could’ve fallen out of your pocket when we were running,” Hermione sounded anxious. Harry just shot another accusatory glance at Malfoy. 

They all jumped when Winky emerged from the bushed next to them. Hermione was understanding and worried when the everyone realized the house elf was struggling to run because they’d disobeyed orders. Malfoy looked notably less sympathetic.

Harry redirected everyone’s attention to finding the path before an argument could erupt and get out of hand.

Once they did they continued down the path, keeping an eye out for Fred, George, and Ginny. They passed goblins, wizards, and most notably Veela as they walked. What made the Veela notable was that just like at the game Ron had been entranced by them, Harry felt the pull too but now that he was prepared the pull was easier to resist. What stood out to Harry most though, was that Malfoy looked just as unaffected and unimpressed as Hermione.

Once they’d found a particularly quiet stretch Harry told everyone he figured they should just settle down there. They’d be able to hear people coming with enough time to get out of the way if they needed.

Ludo Bagman suddenly appeared looking ashen and weary. He’d been surprised to see them and apparently had no idea there was currently a riot. When they’d explained the situation he’d Disapparated with an audible pop. 

They talked briefly about how odd Mr. Bagman seemed to be. They fell into silence after that. Harry could tell that everyone was worrying about the people they knew at the scene, but no one could talk about it because the person Malfoy cared about it was on the opposite side.

Harry was sitting too close to Malfoy. Their arms were brushing, Harry couldn’t tell if Malfoy noticed, his head hung low as he examined his long fingers. Across from them Hermione and Ron watched the figure of Krum Ron had bought walk around in clumsy circles.

Harry didn’t move away.

“Why did you come with us?” Hermione asked Malfoy suddenly looking up at the boy.

He shrugged uneasily.

“It’s not like they would’ve come after you, probably would’ve offered you a spare cloak,” Ron spat. Harry knew that what Ron was saying was rude, but it wasn’t like Malfoy was nice. Ron wasn’t necessarily wrong either.

“Who says I’d have wanted one?” he asked. Malfoy’s words were sharp, but not in the controlled way he usually wielded them.

Then they heard clunky footsteps a little further down the trees.

“H –“ Harry had been meaning to greet the person when Draco’s hand slid over Harry’s mouth and pulled him into the boy’s side.

“ _Are you daft?_ ” Malfoy hissed.

“Morsmordre,” a deep unfamiliar voice declared and a flash of green light through the trees and up into the sky. It formed the image of a skull that looked to have a snake for a tongue.

Harry felt more than heard Malfoy gasp against him as he saw it.

Then Hermione spurred them all into movement as they moved toward the clearing.

Then someone had cast a stupefy in their direction. Mr. Weasley came running toward them to ask if they were okay. Crouch showed up with other Ministry members seconds later. He demanded to know who had done it. When they’d assured the older wizards that they’d heard someone else’s voice and it hadn’t been them everyone shot distrustful glances at Malfoy.

Finding a stupefied Winky with Harry’s wand was shocking. To further complicate things it was revealed that it had been Harry’s wand that had projected the dark mark into the sky. Hermione pointed out that the voice had been much too deep to be Winky’s, but that didn’t stop Barty Crouch from promising to punish his elf for disobeying orders and carrying a wand. Hermione had been furious at that.

As the interrogation continued people started to wander out of the woods as it seemed that the riot had died down. Harry recognized a few faces, like Seamus Finnigan and Cho Chang pass on their way back to the campsite.

Finally, the Ministry wizards conceded that it must have been someone else who’d done the spell with Harry’s wand. That didn’t stop people from continuing to shoot suspicious looks at Malfoy.

***

Remus took him shopping for the things on his list for Hogwarts this year. While he was with the Weasley’s Sirius and Remus had already picked out his dress robes. Harry didn’t know why that’d been on the list in the first place. They were solid black, and looked classic, apparently Sirius had picked them out. Sirius refused to share how he’d gotten into a shop that sold wizarding dress robes.

He said his goodbye to Sirius before he left Grimmauld Place, they figured it was best for him not to make another appearance at the station. Especially since last time Lavender Brown had nearly had a heart attack when she’d seen his animagus form.   

Sirius had given him a tight hug and told him not do anything he wouldn’t do.

At the train station Remus had patted Harry on the back and reminded him that they’d always be there if he needed them.

On the train the strangest thing happened.

At first, they’d just talked about the weird secret that Ron’s family seemed to be keeping about Hogwarts. Then they’d quieted as they could hear Malfoy in the next compartment over. He’d been talking about how his father had wanted to send him to Durmstrang. That didn’t sit well with Harry.

Harry closed the compartment door, muting Malfoy’s voice.

Then the real surprising thing happened. The door opened as they’d been talking about the way magical schools hid their locations. In slipped Pansy Parkinson.

Ron and Harry had both frozen, studying the Slytherin carefully. Hermione continued to talk about how certain locations could be made unplottable, as if she hadn’t even noticed Pansy sit down next to her.

Hermione continued to talk about her theories of how she believed Durmstrang was located in the far north, and how that was supported but the long fur coats that were apart of the uniform.

Ron had seemed to forget Pansy was there. He’d joked about how easy it would be to push Malfoy off a cliff and make it look like an accident.

Pansy laughed.

Ron looked ready to have a heart attack.

“That’d be pretty great,” she admitted with a genuine smile.

Seamus, Dean, and Neville all looked uncomfortable when they saw Pansy as they each come to visit Harry, Hermione and Ron. At least they did when they’d first come. Pansy had an odd charm though and she’d gotten them all to warm to her fairly quickly.

Pansy jumped into a conversation with Seamus about the Quidditch World Cup when she saw the Ireland hat he was wearing that he’d gotten at the game. Everyone quickly joined.

Hermione got bored and buried herself in a fourth-year spell book. Pansy noticed soon after and asked Hermione about it. They Hermione started to teach a summoning charm to Pansy.

Harry was convinced that he might still be dreaming.

Everyone was listening eagerly as Neville explained how him and his grandmother had run into Snape in Diagon Alley that summer. Apparently, the professor had actually flinched when he saw the hat she was wearing. Probably recounting all of the jokes students and teachers had made last year concerning Snape and that hat.

Boggart Snape would not soon be forgotten.

“Pansy, what are you doing here?” Malfoy asked incredulously from the doorway.

“No one asked you to be here Malfoy,” Ron snapped pointedly and gestured to the door.

Malfoy looked unfazed. “What is that?” He asked when he saw the ruffled sleeve falling out of Ron’s trunk.

“Look Malfoy, why don’t you just go?” Harry asked. He’d been having a good time and he wasn’t in the mood for the drama. Malfoy looked at Harry and then pulled the hand that had been reaching for Ron’s dress robe back in his pocket. Malfoy looked as if he’d just if he’d just realized he was an asshole.

This wasn’t really a new revelation to anyone else in the compartment.

Malfoy left wordlessly with Crabbe and Goyle after that.

***

The opening feast was odd. Sure, Harry hadn’t been to one since his first year, but that wasn’t what made it weird.

Harry had been sad to hear that there wouldn’t be any Quidditch at Hogwarts this year. Remus had promised he’d come see Harry’s games.

Mad-Eye Moody had stood out too, and Harry had been curious to see how he’d be as a Professor.

The prospect of the Triwizard Tournament was exciting, but Harry knew he was under age restriction so he couldn’t participate.

Something else was odd, there were whispers of something. Harry didn’t know what it was, but he hadn’t missed the way so many mummering kids had looked up at Malfoy.

Oddly, Harry didn’t hear or see much of Draco over the next few weeks. He did see a lot of a different Slytherin though. Pansy was spending an alarming amount of time with them.

It wasn’t like she was spending every waking moment with them, but she joined them during their shared Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid had seemed curious but didn’t ask. She’d also join them on trips to the library a couple times a week. She’d even joined them for a few meals at the Gryffindor table. The first few times it had happened it felt as though the whole table was holding its breath, but soon everyone had grown used to it.

Things got weirder when she started to catch on to all the books Hermione was reading about curses, Pansy had started to lend Hermione ones from the Parkinson library. She’d also joined S.P.E.W. Hermione’s new effort to help build the rights of house elves.

In regards to the books on curses they’d actually made some progress on Harry’s scar and the dream. Especially now that they’d verified that the events from the dream had likely actually happened.

Days after the World Cup the Ministry had held a press conference and announced that Bertha Jorkins had been captured and was presumed dead. They also stated that they believed that this was linked to the attack. They claimed that they believed that the Death Eaters were attempting to revolt. They encouraged everyone to be careful and come forward if they had any information and the Ministry had concluded their statement by saying that they believed they had things under control.

The newspapers had a field day, but since the Ministry had addressed it first readers weren’t too caught off guard.

They hadn’t totally figured out the connection but they’d discovered a few leads. It helped that they had access to the Hogwarts library, the Black library, and the Parkinson library. Hermione was thrilled.

***

Harry had been walking with Ron that morning after a Divinations class. Harry had spent the whole time reading astrology charts. It seems the stars predicted that he was doomed to discover a terrible fate this week, or something like that. It was basically just his usual Divinations class.

Something crawled up his pant leg and back finally settled on his shoulder.

It was a white ferret. Harry went to set it down but it refused to let go of his shoulder.

Harry laughed and ran his hand over the soft fur, it closed its eyes and curled up on his shoulder.

Ron laughed. “Looks like you’ve made a friend, I think it likes you,” Ron said. When Ron tried to pet it, it nearly bit the boy’s finger. Ron pulled away just in time.

Harry laughed. “Some first year somewhere is probably a freaking out because they’ve lost their pet,” Harry said as the ferret settled back down on his shoulder.

“Might not be a first year, Neville’s pretty sure Trevor the Toad has just escaped for good. Seamus is pretty sure he lives at the lake now.”

The ferret refused to leave Harry’s side. He stuck with him through lunch, Harry had given the ferret some carrots. Then the ferret attended charms class with Harry that afternoon, they’d woken him up when Harry almost got caught fast asleep by Professor Flitwick. Harry was grateful for that. At dinner Harry gave pieces of his loaf to the ferret. Harry asked the first years at the table if they knew anyone who’d lost the ferret. No one had. The ferret did hide however whenever Mad-Eye Moody walked by.

After dinner Harry headed to the Gryffindor common room. He wasn’t surprised when he saw the crescent spectacles abandoned on the desk by the window. He picked them up and turned to head towards the Headmaster’s office.

He figured it was about time he saw the man, he hadn’t been able to talk to him yet this year. Harry had been meaning to thank Dumbledore.

“Ah, Harry nice to see you, sit,” Dumbledore said gesturing to the seat across from him. Harry sat in the seat opposite the Headmaster and took the cup of tea Dumbledore offered him. Harry couldn’t help but notice that Dumbledore had just poured a third cup of tea even though they were the only two in the room.

“I found these in the Gryffindor common room,” Harry said handing Dumbledore back his glasses. Dumbledore smiled and took the glasses back. “I also wanted to thank you, for everything you did for me over the summer.”

“Harry, things happen for a reason. I didn’t do anything, I just helped the natural course of things along a little,” Dumbledore said. Harry knew that Dumbledore would have feigned ignorance if Harry had gotten into the specifics, like mentioning Sirius by name. The Headmaster was like that.

“How’re things?” Harry asked as he looked around the office and saw that all of the paintings of past headmasters looked tense, not joking amongst each other as they usually did.

Dumbledore noticed Harry’s line of sight and laughed. “Have you forgotten Harry? The other schools arrive tomorrow,” Dumbledore said. “Preparations have kept me on my toes, but they’re already getting into the competitive spirit.” Dumbledore gestured to all of the paintings when he said they.

“They’ll hardly be competition for us,” the portrait Harry had come to know was Armando Dippet declared.

Dumbledore’s portrait located just behind Dumbledore and rolled his eyes three seconds before Dumbledore did. Harry tried to contain his laugh. Dumbledore ignored Harry’s failed attempt.

“And who is this Harry?” Dumbledore asked as he looked to the ferret on Harry’s shoulder.

“Oh! I’m actually not sure, he crawled up onto my shoulder this morning. They’ve refused to leave since then,” Harry admitted. His hand went up to run over the ferrets back, he’d done it countless times throughout the day. Harry had noticed that the ferret hadn’t let anyone else touch it. “I reckon it’s one of the first years, I asked around at dinner and couldn’t find the owner though.”

Dumbledore looked amused.

“Do you mind if I see your new friend there Harry?” Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded and took the ferret off his shoulder. This time the ferret left his shoulder willingly. 

Dumbledore placed the ferret on the ground, uttered a spell Harry didn’t quite hear, and then Draco Malfoy was standing next to Dumbledore.

“Professor McGonagall missed you in her transfiguration class today Mr. Malfoy … tea?” Dumbledore asked handing Malfoy the third cup of tea he poured when Harry had first walked in. Draco took it silently. “Would you mind giving Draco and I a second, Harry?”

Harry waited just outside of the office. His head was spinning. He’d just carried Draco Malfoy around on his shoulder all day. He fed Malfoy. He _pet_ Malfoy.

He suddenly realized that in the two whole months he’d been at school, this was the first time he’d actually interacted with Draco since the train. It was sad ... Harry felt sad.

Harry wasn’t sure how long he’d waited, but he was there when Malfoy walked out of the Headmaster’s office.

“Why did you do that?” Harry demanded.

“I hardly wanted to be a ferret,” Malfoy defended.

“Then why were you one?” Harry asked. It wasn’t what Harry wanted to ask, but it was easier than asking _why him?_ Why had he trusted Harry, why had he only let Harry touch him, why had he not left Harry’s shoulder all day?

“Mad-Eye Moody … kind of transfigured me into one,” Draco admitted. Harry was shocked, he knew that Moody was unconventional, he’d used the unforgivable curses in class more than once, not only on spiders, but students as well. Harry had never questioned it though, he always made it feel educational; in a weird and unexpected kind of way.

“He transfigured you into a ferret?” Harry clarified sounding like he was stuck between doubtful and concerned.

Malfoy shook his head and Harry felt relieved, no way a professor at Hogwarts would do such a thing. “I deserved it though – so … it’s not a big deal,” Draco waved off dismissively.

“N – not a big _deal_? You were a ferret! You’ve been a ferret since 10am this morning. Who are you? Aren’t you supposed to be declaring that _your father will hear about this_?” Harry demanded.

“Har – … Potter I fired a hex at Seamus Finnigan when his back was turned. I missed, but I did it. I deserved it,” Malfoy admitted. It took a second for Harry’s brain to get past Draco almost calling him by his first name.

“Seamus Finnigan, my good friend, why would you do that?” Harry asked incredulously. He had taken two steps back increasing the distance between Malfoy and himself. Then he kept thinking. “Wait why would that stop you from running to your Dad?”

“Have you heard _any_ of what people have been saying about me since we got back?” Draco asked. Harry thought back to the whispers he’d seen earlier in the year, the odd looks that everyone had been directing toward Malfoy.

“What are they saying?” Harry asked.

“Why don’t you ask your friend Finnigan, he considers himself an expert on the subject,” Malfoy spat.

Before things could escalate any further Dumbledore emerged from his office. Mad-Eye Moody had just turned the corner further up the hall and Harry figured Dumbledore was about to have a word with him.

Dumbledore turned to the two boys. As he so often did, there was something in his eyes that said that he knew something the two boys did not yet.

“I think you should be on your way boys, it’s a big day tomorrow. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving,” Dumbledore reminded them. The two headed in separate directions under his watchful eye. Harry up toward the Gryffindor Tower and Draco headed down to the Slytherin Dungeon.

The second he stepped into the Gryffindor common room he was on a mission. Pansy must have been able to tell, she called out to him as soon as he stepped in.

“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed Potter?” Pansy asked loudly from across the room. The Gryffindor perfects had given up trying to change the passwords to keep her out after the fifth time she’d snuck in. At that point the password changes were just confusing the first years, quite a few of them wound up locked out on multiple occasions. No one was totally sure how she’d done it, even now.

“Where’s your new friend Harry?” Ron asked looking to Harry’s free shoulder.

“New friend?” Hermione asked in disbelief. Some of the first and second years oh-ed and ah-ed even though Harry knew she hadn’t meant it as an insult. She’d been so busy working on the S.P.E.W. campaign with Pansy all day that she hadn’t seen the ferret today. 

Usually Harry would stop and talk to his friends first, but as he’d previously decided, he was now on a mission. “Where’s Seamus?”

“Right here mate,” he said. He’d been sitting next to Dean by the entrance, Harry couldn’t believe he’d missed him.

“What did you say to Malfoy this morning?”

“Well I saw him chewing out one of our second years. So I just pointed out that I knew he was a Death Eater and had the power to turn him in to the Ministry if I wanted, since we all know their looking for tips. I mean we all know that he was the one who projected the dark mark at the Quidditch World Cup. You were there when the Ministry first caught him. I don’t know how he got outta that one, but it’s not a big surprise we know who his father was, just following in Daddy’s foot steps I reckon,” Seamus said with a shrug.

Harry was outraged.

Before Harry could voice his outrage, Seamus continued. “Then the coward tried to throw a hex on me after I’d called him out and went to leave, even though I was hardly the first. And Mad-Eye Moody came flying down the stair, turned him into this puny white ferret and bounced him around with his wand a little bit. Probably woulda done more too, but someone bumped into him and he lost his footing, the sucker scurried away at the speed of light.”

Ron had been laughing hysterically until it dawned on him. “Wait, Malfoy was …” he trailed off.

Harry nodded.

“Malfoy almost _bit_ me this morning,” Ron realized with a squeak as he held the finger from the morning close to his chest. As if ferret Malfoy was going to jump back out and gnaw it off.  

“Malfoy is not a Death Eater, and he did not cast the dark mark that day. I know because he was there in the wood sitting next to me when it happened.”

Harry didn’t stick around and headed up to his room and drew the curtains around his bed. Later that night his dormmates joined him. Seamus apologized, and Harry told him that Malfoy was the one who deserved the apology. Seamus grudgingly agreed. Seamus said he’d seen the ferret on Harry’s shoulder and hadn’t even realized it could be Draco. He just assumed the boy would’ve been transfigured back by then.

Harry wanted to shake him. He wasn't even actually mad at Seamus. 

Harry was mad at himself. How had he missed the signs? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I split this I'll be updating sooner. 
> 
> Part 2 will be updated Sunday May 13 between 7-11 p.m. (EDT) 
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr (maybe if you want): pinknbluepolkadots.tumblr.com/


	3. Year Four [part two]

**Chapter 3**

_Year 4 [part 2]_

_a.k.a. The year Harry realized Draco Malfoy made ~~absolutely NO~~  sense_

Harry was _(sort of)_ convinced the Weasleys had a death wish.

They found the twins at lunch. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had just gotten to the Great Hall after a morning History of Magic section. Fred and George had teamed up with Lee Jordan and were trying to figure out how they’d become the Hogwarts participant in the Triwizard Tournament. It was more difficult because they didn’t even know who would be choosing the participants yet. Lee Jordan thought bribery might work, but then Fred and George pointed out that unless the decision maker was by some miracle interested in joke items they didn’t really have much to offer.

Ron used that moment to cash in his favour from the summer. 

“I want you to get me considered as well,” Ron announced when he told them that he wanted to use his favour.

“Mum’s going to kill us if she ever finds out, isn’t she?” Fred asked looking exasperated.

“She sure is,” George admitted. 

Harry wasn’t quite sure how this happened, but it wasn’t the first time; Hermione turned the conversation into a lecture on the importance of House Elf rights. Pansy joined in when she sat down next to the curly haired girl. 

“Doesn’t your family have House Elves?” Ron asked Pansy. It really wasn’t even meant as an attack on Pansy, he’d just grown tired of listening to Hermione talk about it day and night. He’d even paid her the sickles for a badge in hopes she’d stop trying to sell him on the argument. It didn’t work.

Hermione looked as if it had just dawned on her that Pansy was in fact a _Parkinson_.

Pansy looked ready to kill Ron.

“Doesn’t Harry’s Godfather have one too?” Fred asked. _Why did he do that?_ Harry knew this wasn’t going to end well, Harry glared at Fred.

Hermione looked wildly offended by Harry and Pansy suddenly. While also seeming stunned that she hadn’t notice this on her own before. 

Everyone got out of class early to greet the guests, which was great because potions sucked. Especially when Snape was glaring at you waiting for you to make a mistake and there was no Hermione to make sure you’re on the right track. Beauxbatons showed up in the largest and most extravagant horse drawn carriage Harry had ever seen. The Durmstrang arrived in a large haunted looking ship. Ron was barely able to contain his excitement when he saw Victor Krum walk out alongside the other Durmstrang students.

Dinner was interesting. The House Elves had added some new foreign food to impress their guests. Hermione was no longer talking to Harry or Pansy. That didn’t stop Pansy from sitting with them though, she just sat next to Harry this time, across from Ron who sat next to Hermione.

“She’s going to forgive us, right?” Pansy asked Harry quietly.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, this wasn’t the first times members of the ‘ _golden trio’_ had fought, and it wouldn’t be the last. And as much as Harry hadn’t expected it, Pansy had made a place for herself in their group now. 

“Soon?” Pansy asked.

Harry thought back to the fight they’d gotten into last year when Ron and Harry had gotten mad that Hermione had turned their Firebolt in to Professor McGonagall for testing. “I wouldn’t count on it.”

Pansy dropped her head into her hands and groaned in defeat. 

***

The next day Harry watched Fred, George, Ron and Lee Jordan spend the day trying the get their names into the goblet. 

First, they’d tried sending their letters into the goblet with enchanted paper airplanes, they figured this would work at none of them would need to cross the age line. This didn’t happen, instead the planes all took sharp turns avoiding the circle, apparently, unable to cross the age line. 

They also tried to talk Alicia Spinnet into putting their names in on their behalf. She refused though. She thought that it might disqualify her own name if she was caught.

Next, they tried the aging potion. The sixth years each took a drop, and Ron took three drops since he needed to age a couple years, where the others just needed to jump a couple months. Fred, George, and Ron had all crossed the line before they were thrown back out by an invisible force. Stopping Lee Jordan in his tracks. Then the three brother had all grown long white beards. 

Dumbledore showed up to say I told you so. All the students who witnessed it were dying of laughter. Harry was also pretty sure he saw Colin Creevey take a picture of the bearded boys which he’d need a copy of later. The brothers were escorted to the hospital wing as everyone else headed to breakfast.

The Great Hall was decorated for Halloween. Bats flying around the ceiling. 

They visited Hagrid once Ron was out of the hospital wing, they stayed for lunch too. Hagrid asked why Hermione wasn’t talking to Harry and she explained her S.P.E.W. campaign. She seemed very disappointed when Hagrid disagreed with her. He said they’d be unhappy if you took away their work.

They also learned that Hagrid knew more about the tournament then he was willing to let on right then, but that might come in handy later. Also, Hagrid definitely had a crush on Beauxbatons Headmaster Madame Maxime. 

The biggest shocker however, had been when Harry’s name came flying out of the Goblet of Fire. 

Harry hadn’t put his name in the fire. No one seemed to believe that though. Cedric, his fellow Hogwarts competitor didn’t even believe him (although he didn’t seem upset like the other competitors did). When he got back to the Gryffindor common room everyone wanted to celebrate but Harry wasn’t in the mood. More than that they all just wanted to know how Harry had gotten his name into the Goblet, but he hadn’t.

He finally found Ron before heading to bed. Turns out Ron didn’t believe him either. 

Now Harry was pretty sure he wasn’t on speaking terms with either of his best friends. 

 _Great_. 

This sucked. 

***

The next day Harry had been walking to the lake where he planned to spend the day sulking. Then he heard other students mumbling.

“ _Isn’t that –_ “

“ _I thought he resigned_.”

“ _Werewolf._ ”

Harry saw Remus marching up to the school. Harry rushes over to meet him but Dumbledore met him at the front doors first.

“Remus, so nice to see you,” Dumbledore said cheerfully.

“Why is Harry one of the champions in the Triwizard Tournament?” He asked cutting straight to the chase. Harry hadn’t even written home about last nights events yet because he wasn’t sure what to say. Harry had no idea how Remus had found out.

“Why don’t we head up to my office,” Dumbledore asked.

“Hi Remus,” Harry said hesitantly as he approached them.

He pulled Harry into his side quickly and looking the boy over to make sure he was okay. “Harry did you write your name on the slip –“

“No.”

Harry was so tired of that question. Remus looked like he actually believed him though, which was a relief. 

“Well if he hasn’t written his name how is it even binding?” Remus argued. 

“Why don’t you come up to my office?” Dumbledore tried again. This time Remus conceded. 

Harry waited by the lake. Remus didn’t come back out until nearly three hours later. He looked so sorry when Harry ran up to him and Remus told the boy that he had to compete. 

“You’re already a hero Harry, you don’t need to win this. This means that someone is after you Harry, and you shouldn’t take that lightly. Just please be safe, Sirius and I love you Harry, and we want you to be safe,” Remus said looked into Harry’s eyes to make sure the boy understood. 

Harry nodded. “I love you guys too,” Harry said and Remus looked like he was on the verge of getting emotional. 

***

When Harry got back to the Gryffindor Common room he found Hermione waiting for him. She asked him to walk with her. 

“I thought you weren’t talking to me,” Harry said as they started to walk.

“Who do you think told your Godfathers about the Goblet of Fire?” Hermione asked.

“That was you?”

“I’d already been writing them to propose that Kreacher receive a wage and vacation days, I just added that to the end,” Hermione shrugged. “I’m sorry, I know you didn’t hire Kreacher and you don’t go out of your way to control his life.”

“I’m sorry too, and I really didn’t put my name in the Goblet Hermione,” Harry assured her. She didn’t look surprised. 

“I know.”

“Ron doesn’t.”

“Ron’s jealous, he’ll get over it.” 

Hermione and Harry agreed that they would have to figure out who put his name in the Goblet of Fire. They both believed that it couldn’t have been a student. Fooling a magical object as old and powerful as the Goblet of Fire was no easy task.

They then started to talk about the clues Harry had gotten. How this task was meant to test his _daring_. Harry wasn’t sure what that entailed. It seemed that was the point though, as Dumbledore then said; “ _Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard … very important …_ ”

Hermione thought that sitting back and waiting, since it was meant to be unknown, was a ridiculous plan. They didn’t know how yet, but they were going to figure out the first task. They had just under a month to do so.

Harry hoped Ron had forgiven him by then.

***

It was the Saturday before the first task and they were no closer to figuring things out.

Everyone at school seemed to hate him, except the Gryffindors were sort of just neutral now. They weren’t exactly talking to Harry, but they weren’t saying anything against him either. Small victories.

They were allowed to go to Hogsmeade, and the trip managed to highlight just how dysfunctional their friend group was at the moment.

Harry and Ron weren’t talking. Pansy and Hermione weren’t talking either for that matter. Harry thought that was ridiculous as Hermione had forgiven him weeks ago.

Harry and Pansy had become better friends over the past few weeks. Hermione had taken on a lot between S.P.E.W. and helping with Harry with all his many problems. She still had school work to do as well. This meant that she spent many nights eating dinner quick and running off to the library, leaving Pansy and Harry to talk during meals. She was more blunt than other people Harry had spoken to, and sometimes she lacked patience, but they talked about Quidditch, and duelling, and random things that they found interesting. When she read Rita’s article about Harry, the one that claimed that he was basically a weeping infant who was in love with Hermione she’d laughed with Harry as he recounted what actually happened.

It was still early afternoon when Harry had sat awkwardly under his invisibility cloak between an unspeaking Hermione and Pansy, Harry started questioning his life choices, but then Mad-Eye (who could apparently see Harry under his cloak) showed up with Hagrid in tow. Hagrid told Harry to meet him by the hut at midnight with the cloak and Harry was intrigued.

They sat through ten more minutes of awkward silence after the Professors had left, Pansy stood up then. “Well Hermione, it was so nice to see you, but Harry and I have to go now,” Pansy said. As she did she somehow managed to grab Harry’s arm through the fabric of his invisibility cloak and pulled him towards the door.

Before they got far Hermione stood up. “Wait Pansy, where are you going?” Hermione asked. Pansy was beaming, it was the first thing Hermione had said to her directly in weeks.

“Don’t worry Hermione, I’m helping,” Pansy assured her, but Harry was pretty sure Hermione was as confused as he was by the statement.

Pansy had lead Harry to the Quidditch Pitch. She’d taken his invisibility cloak, he didn’t need it since no one was there to accuse him of anything. Harry smiled as he looked around at the stands. He’d missed this place. He missed being apart of a team. Being a Hogwarts champion was isolating. Or it was for Harry, Cedric Diggory on the other hand seemed to be swarmed by adoring fans. Harry had even seen Malfoy speak to the handsome Hufflepuff a few times over the past week.

“Crabbe doubts you’ll last 10 minutes during the task on Tuesday,” a voice taunted from behind them. Harry didn’t have to turn around to know that it was Malfoy. 

“That’s great Malfoy. What, did you bet him I wouldn’t last five?” Harry asked with a sigh as he looked up at the empty stands. Harry wished it was a normal year so that he could’ve played Quidditch, and Ron would still be his friend, and the whole school wouldn’t hate him, and he wouldn’t have to worry that he still had no idea what the task was on Tuesday. In less then four days. _Shit._

Pansy stepped over and reached into the fabric of the stands rustled around and pulled out Harry’s Firebolt.

“How did you –“

“You should take better care of your things Harry,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

“It was locked in a trunk, at the foot of my bed, what the hell Pansy.”

She just shrugged in response and turned to start walking back towards Hogsmeade, his invisibility cloak still in hand.

“Wait where are you going?” Harry asked.

She turned to face Harry as she continued to walk, now backwards towards Hogsmeade. “To see Hermione, before she remembers why she isn’t talking to me. Then I’ll put this back where it belongs so you can find it in time for tonight,” Pansy called and then turned back around and picked up the pace.

Harry then, finally, turned to Malfoy. Malfoy was holding his own broom at his side.

“What’s this about Malfoy?” Harry asked unimpressed. Was Malfoy scared that talking to Harry in public would harm his reputation or something? Was that why he had to be cornered at the Quidditch Pitch.

“It’s harder to hit a moving target,” Draco said gesturing to his broom.

“… you want to duel me?” Harry asked uncertain where this was going.

“No. Honestly Potter I’m trying to help you, I’m just saying that flying might come in handy on _Tuesday_ ,” Malfoy offered. Harry was stunned.

“W – what? I thought Crabbe didn’t think I’d last ten minutes.”

“And I told him he was mistaken and you’d definitely last at least twelve,” Malfoy said with a shrug. Then he mounted his broom and kicked off. He was eight feet up in the air when he turned back and saw Harry was still on the ground. “Well, are you coming?”

“Who says I need your help?”

“What? Cause you and your girlfriend Granger have it all figure out, have you?” Draco taunted. Clearly a reference to Rita’s horrid article.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Harry snapped. Not ready to admit to Malfoy that neither of them had any idea what was going to happen Tuesday. Malfoy’s face brightened for a second and Harry forgot why he’d been trying to fight with Malfoy.

Harry joined Malfoy a second later. “If you know what the task is, why not just tell me?” Harry asked. This strategy didn’t seem to be the most helpful in Harry’s opinion.

“It’d be no fun if I gave you all the answers.”

“Why are you doing this?” Harry asked. Harry waned to ask if he’d already helped Cedric since he’d seen the two talking, but he didn’t want Malfoy to say something dumb, like accuse him of being jealous. He wasn’t. _He was ~~n’t.~~_

 “You didn’t have to talk to Seamus for me, I can handle myself,” Malfoy said avoiding Harry’s eyes. “But everyone’s been so busy hating you lately that they’ve completely forgotten that I allegedly moonlight as a disciple of the Dark Lord in my spare time … So, thank you.” 

Malfoy pulled a snitch out of his pocket after that.

“This is how you’re helping me?” Harry asked. Did Malfoy think he was incapable of handling himself on a broom suddenly.

“When was the last time you rode a broom, Potter?” Malfoy asked. Harry thought about it. The Quidditch House Cup had been the last time. Now that he thought about it, it had been a while.

Harry and Draco raced each other around the pitch. Harry caught the snitch five times and Draco caught it three. Then it started to get dark and Harry figured it was time he headed back to the Gryffindor common room, so he could convince everyone he was asleep before sneaking out to see Hagrid.

Harry thanked Malfoy before he left. Even if this didn’t wind up being of any use in the first task, Harry had fun. For the past few hours he’d forgotten everything that wasn’t the snitch, the wind in his hair, and Draco Malfoy.

***

Harry had learned what the first task was after going to see Hagrid. He could also attest to the fact that Pansy owed Ginny three sickles because there definitely seemed to be more than a professional relationship between Hagrid and Madame Maxime.

_Dragons._

He wished he could tell Ron that he’d seen his brother hiding four large dragons (a Hungarian Horntail, a Common Welsh Green, a Swedish Short-Snout, and a Chinese Fireball) in the forest. Harry sincerely hoped he didn’t get the Horntail, even Charlie had admitted it was the one he’d least want to face.

Not for the first time, Harry wondered who had but his name in the Goblet of fire because the fact that they likely wanted him dead felt more real now.

Harry wondered if all of the champions knew. Harry was sure Maxime would tell Fleur, he wasn’t sure if Krum knew (but then again, he had run into Karkaroff in the woods and he must have seen the dragons for himself shortly after that), and although Malfoy had spoken to Cedric that didn’t necessarily mean anything; Malfoy was still a cryptic ass.

Harry sat down that night and wrote a letter to Sirius. Harry knew that Remus was coming to the first task and would tell Sirius everything, but Harry wanted to talk to Sirius as well. He also wanted to tell them about one of Pansy’s latest theory.

Harry had told them about how his wand was related to Voldemort’s. He’d never told anyone before, and he didn’t think it would really mean anything, but they’d hit a dead end in their research recently and Harry remembered his godfathers telling him not to underestimate the power of information. It was like something clicked in Pansy’s head when he told them.

“Wait, what if we’ve been going about this wrong. We’ve been operating under the assumption that it was a shared connection, but what if it isn’t?” Pansy asked.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“He left a scar on you Harry. Now you speak Parseltongue, you can sense when _he_ is nearby, you can have dreams about events in _his_ life, and your wand is his wand’s relative,” she explained, sounding very excited and proud of herself. Jus to clarify she finished with; “maybe the connection only flows from him to you and not the other way around. I don’t know if that is because of mistake he made when casting, or if it happened to you when you were so young and before your powers manifested, but that might help us search.”

Hermione was there too, she didn’t say anything but she looked impressed.  

For the most part Harry had sent them regular letters that told them about everyday stuff, but in this one he told Sirius about the dragons, told Sirius about how mad he was about the article Rita wrote, the theory, and even told Sirius how upset he was that he couldn’t talk to Ron.

Harry had already mentioned Pansy to Sirius in past letters. Sirius didn’t seem too concerned even though Harry had been worried about what his godfather would think. Harry didn’t say anything about Malfoy though, not in this letter, or any other one. He wasn’t sure why, but he just wasn’t ready to talk to them about him.

Harry cornered Cedric the next day and told him about the dragons. Cedric seemed surprised.

“You mean Malfoy didn’t tell you?” Harry asked curiously.

“No, did he tell you?” Cedric asked. He looked oddly cautious on the subject of Malfoy.

“Of course not, just some cryptic bullshit about me being an easy target,” Harry said, not wanting to give too much away.

Cedric laughed, “that sounds like him. Are you sure it’s dragons?”

Harry explained that he’d seen them and Cedric was thankful. When Cedric asked why he’d told him Harry just said that it was the right thing to do.

Mad-Eye Moody called Harry to his office after that. Harry missed a decent chunk of herbology class while Mad-Eye assured Harry he’d done the right thing telling Cedric, and that everyone cheated during the Triwizard tournament so he didn’t much care that Harry knew the first task was dragons. He did however raise an important question. _How was Harry going to get his broom to him during the task?_

***

Harry had to face the Hungarian Horntail.

Harry had Hermione teach him a summoning charm earlier. Thanks to her, Harry had been able to use his broom in the area. It had been difficult but Harry had his golden egg. He’d hurt his shoulder, but he’d lived. More small victories. The some of the scores he’d received were biased, Bagman scored him a perfect ten out of ten which he knew he didn’t deserve, and Karkaroff had given him a four out of ten (but no one missed how he’d given Krum a ten), the rest of the judges scores had all seemed fair though. When he’d looked up after he’d finally finished he saw Remus beaming at him. He looked relieved, but also proud.

What mattered most to Harry though was that he and Ron had made up. It felt good to have his best friend back at his side.

When total scores were compared by some miracle Harry and Krum had tied for first place.

Ron was convinced that Karkaroff had thrown Harry’s name in the goblet. It was definitely a possibility, more than Harry and Hermione had come up with, but Harry wasn’t so sure.

It turned out the golden egg was the clue for the next event.

All the egg did was scream at him when he opened it though, at a ridiculously high pitch that Harry was convinced could shatter glass if it so desired. None of his friends were particularly helpful, each coming up with outlandish theories on what the second task could be given the screeching egg. Apart of him hoped a teasing Ginny was right and he’d just get to eat a really fancy breakfast buffet.

The good news was there being more time to solve this one. Harry and his friends had until late February.

***

Fred and George told Hermione how to get into the kitchens with no resistance. They said that you just needed to tickle some pear in one of the paintings and the secret door opened.

Fred and George hadn’t known Pansy well yet, but when they tested their new and improved Canary Cream (now turning the consumer into a large canary and reverting the consumer back to their human form after a minute) out on Neville at breakfast that morning Pansy thought it was hilarious.

Harry got the feeling this was the start of a worrisome friendship. The three already all shared devious looks that unsettled Harry just a little bit.

Harry’s first impromptu trip to the kitchens had been interesting. Hermione had dragged him, Ron, and Pansy along. Harry was happy to see Dobby, and Dobby was happy to be free and making all the questionable fashion choices his heart desired in his little tea cozy hat. Winky was far less pleased to be free. Pansy didn’t even try to contain her amusement at Winky’s hysterics. Hermione was not impressed.

Harry walked away from the kitchen wondering why Winky had said Crouch thought Bagman was a bad man.

***

It turned out Harry would not be able to go home for Christmas. As a Champion it was mandatory that Harry attend the Yule Ball on Christmas day. It turned out almost everyone was staying though so it wasn’t too bad. He promised his godfather’s he’d tell them if anything interesting happened.

Harry needed a dance partner though.

He didn’t want to dance, but McGonagall had informed him that as a champion he really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

Ron and Harry had teamed up to try and find dates to the ball. On the bright, side his success in the first task seemed to have regained his peer’s respect. It still wasn’t going well. At this point Harry and Ron would be preforming the opening dance together. And Harry just knew that Ron was going to step on his toes.

Then girls started asking Harry. Girls from different houses, girls from different years. Harry kept turning them down though. He knew that they were just asking him because he was a champion, but then again, it’s not like Harry would’ve wanted a date unless he had to have one. Sure, there were girls Harry found attractive, like Cho Chang, but something was stopping him from asking her. Hermione thought he should just suck it up and say yes to one of the girls who’d asked him.

Hermione just didn’t get it, some were too young (he didn’t want to be the champion who showed up with a _second year_ ), another was too tall (he’d have looked miniature dancing next to her), and another smelled too much like springtime (it made him want to sneeze), and one of them had hair that was just too _brown_ (Harry hadn’t been able to explain that one), and a different girls eyes were too blue (he hadn’t been able to deliberate on that one either). So _clearly_ it wasn’t Harry’s fault that he didn’t have a date to the dance yet.

Harry and Ron had been chatting after another day without finding dates when it came up. Ginny was with them and Ron had just said that the only other person who it seemed didn’t have a date that they knew was Neville. They were the only three in the common room.

“He said that he asked Hermione earlier today and she said she couldn’t because she already had a date,” Ron said with a shake of his head.

“Really?” Harry asked sounding surprise but Ginny seemed to already know all of this.

“Yeah, can you believe that she wouldn’t tell us?” Ron asked sounding offended.

“You really think she’s got a date then?” Harry asked. He’d been so busy whining about how he didn’t have a date to the dance to Hermione that he hadn’t even thought to ask her.

Ginny looked bored of the conversation already. “She does,” Ginny assured him. Harry was pretty sure that she was here because people had money on who Harry would end up going to the dance with and she needed the latest information. She’d grown quite the devious streak over the summer, the twins were proud.

“Hey,” Hermione said as she approached them where they all sat in the common room.

“Why didn’t you tell us you had a date,” Harry asked.

“It’s not a big deal,” she dismissed.

“Not a big deal? I’ve been waiting all year for this, I can’t believe Pansy finally said something,” Ron exclaimed. The room froze, everyone that wasn’t Ron looked extremely confused.

Hermione shook her head as she sat down. “What are you talking about?”

“Pansy Parkinson, your date to the yule ball,” he said as if it were obvious.

“Ron … Ron, I’m going to the ball with Krum,” Hermione said cautiously.

Ron’s eyes grew big. He looked like Aunt Petunia did whenever she watched her favourite Soap Operas. “Does she know? How did she react when you told her?” Harry couldn’t help but notice that for the first time Ron wasn’t distracted by the mention of Victor Krum.

“No, I’m sure she wouldn’t care who I go to the ball with though,” Hermione said with a shake of her head as if what Ron was saying was completely ridiculous.

“Are you blind? She likes you,” Ron said with a disappointed shake of his head. Harry felt reassured that Ginny and Hermione looked equally as confused as he did. “You didn’t know, seriously? Think about it Hermione, you send her a love letter over the summer and she starts hanging out with us as soon as she steps on the train. She lends you books from her family’s personal library, she sneaks into the common room to see you, the two of you walk around holding hands half the time, she actually joined S.P.E.W., last week when we were studying she made you a bracelet weaved out of your favourite flowers – you do realize it’s winter and no one just casually finds flowers – and she get’s jealous whenever we talk about Cedric Diggory.”

Hermione was shaking her head quickly. Like she’d just realized – like Harry – how blind they’d been, but she wasn’t ready to admit it yet. “No.”

“Yes,” Ron said with a nod.

“I need a minute,” Hermione said as she left, marching up to her dormitory.

“ _Holy shit_ ,” Ginny mumbled. “I should’ve had people place bets on her Harry, her love life is far more interesting than yours.”

***

Hermione had been adamantly avoiding Pansy. Harry on the other hand had been trying to keep her spirits up. Ron told Pansy that Hermione had already made plans to go with Krum grudgingly when Pansy had enlisted their help to ask her to the dance.

“Oh, okay,” she said but they could all see that she was heartbroken even though she refused to show it.

The holiday had started and Harry was happy to see that the twins had been distracting Pansy. Harry was pretty sure Ron had set them up to it. She and Ginny had been sneaking Canary Creams into people’s food since people no longer trusted Fred and George near their plates.

The entire Gryffindor table burst of laughing when silent sophisticated Blaise Zabini erupted in a flash of feathers into a large bird. Thanks to Pansy now Gryffindors and Slytherins alike were being pranked – and quite frequently at that too.

Harry had been walking down one of the halls near the Dungeons, he’d forgotten his notes in potions and just retrieved them. Luckily Snape hadn’t been there and had somehow failed to see and collect the parchment Harry had left lying at one of the lab tables. As he walked he heard Pansy’s voice.

“No. Watch me, like this,” her voice echoed through the hall and Harry assumed they’d been planning another prank. He wanted to see them in action but when he entered abandoned classroom (one that was huge and he had never seen before) he was stunned. All of the desks and chairs had been pushed to the side. In the center of the room stood Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy, and around them stood countless students, most of them looked to be third and fourth years, but there were some younger students and other older ones, all of them however were paired up. What was most surprising was that the students were from many different houses.

Neville and Ginny waved when he first walked in.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked them.

It was Malfoy’s voice that answered though. “Forget to bring your date Potter?” he asked.

Harry tilted his head in confusion. “Why would I –“

“It’s a dance rehearsal Harry,” Pansy replied.

Harry looked around the room and didn’t see any Professors though. “Who’s teaching?”

“We are,” Pansy said with a smile and gesturing to herself and Malfoy. “Watch this.”

She turned the music on with a flick of her wand and everyone around Harry started to dance in perfect synchronization. It was kind of amazing.

Ginny sighed when Neville stepped on her toe and Pansy zoomed off to help them. Malfoy wandered over to a Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff who were struggling to keep time. He counted the music aloud for them and mimicked the steps so they could follow his timing.

Harry sat and watched the class for the next twenty minutes. When it was dismissed Harry heard Pansy remind them that tomorrow was the last day as the day after was the Yule Ball.

Everyone cleared out but Harry and Pansy stuck around … so did Malfoy actually.

“Why were you helping everyone? Doesn’t not having students to laugh at take some of the fun out of it for you?” Harry asked him.

Malfoy sighed as if it should have been obvious. “Really Potter, I get enough of that at these lessons, you should’ve seen them all at the first one lesson it was a mess,” Malfoy was chuckling just thinking about it. “But at the Yule Ball everyone represents Hogwarts and I will not let the discoordination of some reflect on the rest of us.”

“Harry who’d you end up asking to the ball?” Pansy asked. After explaining that a few of the Gryffindors had approached her and asked for help, so she’d set this up and enlisted Malfoy’s help. From there the first kids who’d asked spread the word until there were quite a lot of students asking for help.

“Yes, which unfortunate soul’s toes will you trample that night?”  Malfoy pressed.

Harry went red and stared down at his shoes.

“You haven’t got a date? Harry the ball is in three days!” Pansy exclaimed.

“Has McGonagall not made you pick someone yet? Have you even practiced at all?” Malfoy demanded.

Harry shook his head. Professor McGonagall had followed up with him, she told him that if he hadn’t found a date by the ball she’d dance with him herself. The twins had begged him not to find a date just so they could witness it. They weren’t the reason Harry didn’t have a date though. He wasn’t actually all that sure what the reason was. “Go with Pansy, at least we won’t have to worry if your partner can dance.”

“Sure Harry, I never wound up asking anyone anyway,” Pansy agreed. Harry felt relieved, at least that was one less thing to worry about. “I’ve actually got to run though, I promised Ron I’d help him ask Padma to the Ball today.”

“So, you a dancer now Malfoy?” Harry asked after she’d left.

“You do realize I’ve been attending formal events with my family for over a decade. This is hardly my first ball,” Malfoy stated. Harry hadn’t really thought about it, but it made sense.

“Who are you taking to the ball?” Harry asked, he hadn’t meant to sound nearly as curious as he actually did.

“Well, I was going to accompany Pansy, since Granger made the poor decision to join Krum at the dance. We usually go to events together anyway. It pleases our parents. Now that she’s going with you though I imagine I’ll go alone,” Draco admitted. Harry was shocked.

“Wait you knew about Pansy and Hermione?” Harry asked. He knew they’d never been Pansy- _and-_ Hermione officially, but he wasn’t sure how else to phrase it.

“Of course, I knew,” Malfoy said. And really it shouldn’t have been surprising as Malfoy seemed to know everything these days.

“But they’re both girls,” Harry said. It didn’t matter to him but shouldn’t Malfoy. He had always found dumb reasons to look down on others.

“Why should that matter to me?”

“Hermione isn’t a pure blood,” Harry pointed out.

“Neither are you,” Malfoy replied.

“Yeah but Pansy doesn’t like me that way.”

Malfoy face said Harry’s last statement had missed the mark. Like maybe Malfoy had been hoping Harry would figure something out but he didn’t. Malfoy excused himself to grab dinner after that.

***

The next day Harry went to the classroom near the Dungeons at an ungodly hour in the morning. Pansy had made him promise to meet her there the previous day. Only when he stepped inside it wasn’t Pansy waiting for him.

“You’re late,” Draco Malfoy observed.

“You’re here?” Harry said it like a question.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“If you must know, Pansy was busy so she asked me to come in her place,” Malfoy said.

“Was the thing she was busy with sleep, cause it’s far too early to be awake,” Harry replied.

Malfoy didn’t let him waste much more time complaining. With a flick of his wand music was playing. Malfoy walked toward him and Harry refused to give Malfoy the satisfaction knowing he was uncomfortable. And Harry _was_ uncomfortable.

He was alone in a room with Malfoy. Music playing softly in the background and now Malfoy was in his personal space too. The blond picked up one of Harry’s hands and placed it on one of his shoulders. Malfoy then clasped Harry’s other hand delicately in his own. His other hand sliding down to rest on Harry’s waist.

He walked Harry though the motions at half time first which was painfully slow. It was very awkward and choppy at first. Malfoy corrected his posture more than once. Harry stumbled quite a few times, moving to step in the wrong direction other times. Then as they started to dance to the actual speed of the song, Malfoy counted just loud enough for Harry to hear him. Harry didn’t tell Malfoy when he got a hang of the counts in his head. He liked listening to Malfoy’s voice.

After a while, when Malfoy was confident that Harry had the steps down, he made the other boy take the lead. He moved their hands first. Harry’s hand now on Malfoy’s slim waist. Harry struggled a bit at first and then it became kind of easy.

They headed to breakfast shortly after that. Harry heading over to see his friends at the Gryffindor table, Malfoy headed to the Slytherin table. Harry directed curious glances at Malfoy later when he was confident no one was watching.

***

The Yule Ball started on Christmas day and Ron already looked half ready to cry. His robes looked even frillier on than expected. The twins seemed to embrace their own hand me down robes with a confidence Ron just could not manage to find.

Earlier that day he’d received gifts. Socks from Mrs. Weasley (she knitted them herself), a penknife from Sirius (it unlocked doors and untied knots), and a large box of chocolates from Remus (with a note that reminded Harry to be careful with Sirius’ gift).

Harry was nervous for the opening dance. Especially considering the all of the students who’d be watching him but having practiced with Malfoy and then again with Pansy later Harry had grown familiar with the steps. Hopefully, that meant he could pull it off.

Pansy was wearing a sleek green gown, and as he shared the first dance with Pansy many eyes followed her. Including Hermione’s. Who was also taking part in the opening dance, with Victor Krum across the ballroom. When Harry whispered that to Pansy, she beamed and glanced discreetly over her shoulder catching Hermione’s eyes.

Hemione looked lovely as well, which Pansy had been quick to point out to Harry as soon as they’d stepped into the ballroom. Hermione was in a periwinkle blue dress that flowed around her, and she’d slicked back her hair into an elegant knot. They’d all been at the champions table for dinner after the first dance, Harry wished he could’ve sat with Ron. Harry also noticed Draco in fitted silk black robes on the other side of the room.

Harry tried his best to distract Pansy. A few seats down from them a usually silent Krum spoke animatedly with Hermione. Instead Harry gave an impromptu fashion review of their classmates because he new it would make her laugh. Especially because he had absolutely no idea what he was saying.

Not long after the dinner Pansy wandered off. Harry wasn’t sure where too.

He’d been talking to Ron when not even five full feet away he saw Malfoy having a hushed conversation. Harry stared at the way Cedric leaned in to whisper in Draco’s ear. Harry felt an odd burning in his throat. Cedric had barely left Cho’s side all night but she was nowhere to be seen now.

“It look’s like Krum’s by himself, where do you think Hermione went?” Ron asked. Harry wasn’t listening though. “Hey Harry, Malfoy got something on his face or something?” Ron asked waving a hand in front of Harry’s face to get his attention.

“Hmm, yeah sure let’s go get drinks,” Harry said sounding dazed.

“You really aren’t listening to me at all,” Ron accused in exasperation.

“Sorry Ron, just kinda distracted,” Harry admitted. Harry afforded one last glance at Malfoy. Then Harry was cutting himself off, then he’d enjoy the rest of his evening. He watched as Cedric said one last thing to Malfoy and then Malfoy looked up. Directly at Harry, who he’d just caught staring.

Malfoy walked toward Harry with all of his usual arrogance. Harry couldn’t stop the excitement that bubbled up in him as Draco approached.

“As a champion you should be acting as a host, and therefore it’s rude not to dance with anyone,” Malfoy said as he scanned Harry up and down. He’d spent his time since dinner sitting net to Ron and people watching

“Are you asking me to dance?” Harry asked. In that moment he really hoped that Malfoy was.

“Would you like me to?” Malfoy looked far too smug when he asked.

Just then Harry remembered that it wasn’t like being in that classroom the other morning. They weren’t alone here. “I’m actually going to go and grab some punch, might try and convince Fred and George to slip Snape a Canary Cream,” Ron announced and left quickly.

“I actually came to ask if you could step out with me for a minute … since, you know, you’ve been doing such an awful job so far I doubt anyone will notice you’ve disappeared,” Malfoy admitted at first looking as sheepish as Harry felt. By the end though Malfoy had been his usual snide self. Harry nodded and followed Malfoy out of the ballroom.

***

“Are you leading me towards the Gryffindor Common Room?” Harry asked confused as continued to follow Malfoy.

“Yes.”

“Why are we going there? Wait – how do you even know where that is?”

“Isn’t your golden egg in your dormitory?” Malfoy asked as if it should have been clear that was why he’d asked. “Also, you took me to your common room when I was … _smaller._ ”

Harry had completely forgotten that he’d taken Malfoy there when he’d been a ferret.  

Harry walked in the common room with Malfoy. He made the blond wait there while he ran upstairs to grab the egg. “It just screams at you,” Harry said as he walked back into the common room, lifting the egg in his hands.

“That’s because your listening wrong,” Malfoy said with a roll of his eyes. Malfoy was quick to lead him out of the Gryffindor common room … and to the fifth floor. Harry had no idea where they were going now. They made a left at the statue of Boris the Bewildered. “Pine-fresh,” Malfoy whispered to one of the doors just past the statue and it swung open. He then pulled a hesitant Harry inside.

“Where are we?” Harry asked as he looked around the room, there appeared to be either a small pool or a large tub in the middle of the room, overflowing with bubbles. The whole place actually seemed rather luxurious.

“The Prefects’ bathroom,” Malfoy said as if that should be reassuring. It also looked like Malfoy was taking off his robe. Harry was freaking out. Possibly hallucinating, maybe he was still at the ball and Fred and George had just spiked the punch.

“What are you doing?” Harry half yelled as he turned to face the wall so that he couldn’t see Malfoy.

“Well I guess you could get in, in your robes. But mine are velvet and I’m not about to get them coated in bubbles,” Malfoy mused and Harry could hear the sound of someone getting in the water. He turned around before he could actually think about it. The bubbles in the water covered Malfoy for the most part thankfully.

“Please tell me you have clothes on,” Harry said as he looked up at the ceiling.

“I’ve got my underwear on. Stop being a baby and get in, bring the egg,” Malfoy instructed. Against all reason Harry stripped down to his own boxers and slipped into the water next to Malfoy.

“What next?” Harry asked handing Malfoy the egg as he reached for it. Suddenly there was a hand on Harry’s shoulder pushing him under the water. He thought Malfoy might be trying to drown him.

Then he saw the egg open and heard eerie voices singing.

_‘Come seek us where our voices sound,_

                _We cannot sing above the ground,_

_And while you’re searching, ponder this:_

_We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,_

_An hour long you’ll have to look,_

_And to recover what we took,_

_But past an hour – the prospect’s black_

_Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back.’_

They both surfaced once the song was done.

“How’d you know it’d do that,” Harry asked. Draco suddenly looked shy. He explained shortly while his cheeks flushed that he’d read about merpeople a lot when he was little and there had been one about merpeople sending messages with golden eggs.

“Wait this is about merpeople?”

“Yes Harry, do keep up.”

“How long have you had that figured out? Why do you keeping helping me? Why not just give me another cryptic hint? Why now?” Harry’s brain may be malfunctioning.

“Breathe Potter,” Malfoy said his eyes blown wide at the onslaught of questions. Harry still looked on edge though, like he wasn’t sure he could trust the blond didn’t have ulterior motives. “Fine, I guess I’ve known for a while, okay?” Malfoy snapped, he then took a deep breath composing himself. “And I figured if I told you to take a bath with the egg you’d get all offended and think I thought you smelled or something. I’m leaving in the morning for the rest of the break for a … family emergency of sorts. I figured it would be better to let you know now, so that way you’d have time to figure out how you’re going to hold your breath under water for an hour since I haven’t figured that out yet.”

They were both quiet for a moment.

“Thanks Malfoy,” Harry said quietly.

“Naturally I’m just making sure you don’t make a mockery of my school,” Malfoy said with a huff.

“Naturally,” Harry replied jokingly, cause Malfoy honestly made no sense to Harry half the time.

“I should get going,” Malfoy said getting out of the water and casting a drying spell. He was getting dressed when Harry spoke up.

“I thought you said your Dad wanted to send you to Durmstrang,” Harry said, remembering the comment from the train he’d overheard.

Malfoy seemed to think about how he wanted to reply to that for a minute. “There are some decisions he doesn’t get to make for me anymore.”

With that he pulled on his jacket and left.

He heard a delighted giggle as he finally got out of the tub. “Don’t you have it bad Harry?” Moaning Myrtle asked. Harry hoped she hadn’t been there the whole time and hurried to get dressed.

“I’m sure I’ll figure the breathing thing out.”

“Not what I was talking about,” Myrtle said with a roll of her eyes. Harry rushed out before with a quick goodbye before Myrtle could make any other odd remarks.

Harry made it back to the Ball in time to watch Pansy share a dance. They both moved gracefully around the room and there were people who actually clapped for them when they stopped. Pansy walked up to Harry when she spotted him.

He spent the little time left that night listening to Pansy boast about how her and Hermione were friends again.

***

The rest of the break passed in a blur. Hermione and Pansy were talking again.

After all the advertisement their Canary Creams had gotten over the break, Fred and George’s sales were skyrocketing. They spent a few nights a week packing orders.

When classes started back up again Professor Wihelmina Grubbly-Plank was teaching Care of magical creatures. Rita Skeeter had written another nasty, exaggerated article; only this time it was about Hagrid and the fact that he was part giant.

Dumbledore was already there when Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Pansy showed up at Hagrid’s hut to check up on him. Dumbledore told Hagrid that he refused to let him resign and Harry was relieved. The students stayed and chatted with Hagrid for a bit and then headed back up to the castle.

Hermione and Ron had been trying to help him figure out how he was going to hold his breath for a whole hour in the Common room when Neville overheard them. He told them about Gillyweed. It would help him breathe underwater, the only problem was Neville had only read about it in the herbology books he’d borrowed from Mad-Eye, he didn’t actually have any.

The good news was that they still had over a month to find it.

That month went by much quicker than expected. Luckily Dobby showed up and said he’d heard Harry was looking for Gillyweed and gave some to him. Harry was extremely grateful, now all he needed to do was wait.  

***

The day of the second task Harry stood by the lake with his competitors. He spotted Ron in the stands who waved enthusiastically, Pansy waved too from next to Ron. She kept glancing around like she was looking for something. Probably Hermione. Harry wondered where she was, it was that she wasn’t here.

Another quick scan of the crowd and Harry couldn’t spot Malfoy anywhere.

Before he knew it, they were counting down from and Harry had swallowed the Gillyweed and jumped into the lake with gills sprouting on his neck. He’d had plenty of time to research what would happen so it wasn’t as if it was a surprise, but it was there was a difference between expecting something to happen and actually growing gills and having your feet morph into flippers.

Harry shot off through the water trying to find what had been taken from him. It was dark, and Harry had to bat away to grabby hands of Grindylows and other creatures. The eggs song haunted him as Myrtle appeared in the water pointed him in the right direction. Harry had listed to it a few more times over the past weeks.

Then he entered a clearing of what appeared to be a merpeople village and in the center four hostages were bound. Hermione, Malfoy, Cho, and an eight-year-old he didn’t recognize.

 When the merpeople refused to lend him a spear he got to work trying to free Hermione with a large sharp rock. The merpeople pulled him off right away.

“You take your own hostage, leave the others,” the merpeople told him.

“But she is my hostage,” Harry tried to say with a shake of his head. The merpeople just pointed to … Malfoy.

Harry suddenly realized that all though he couldn’t understand why Malfoy was his hostage it would make less sense for him to be anyone else’s. He might have been Cedric’s, if Cedric’s hostage wasn’t so obviously Cho. 

Harry freed Malfoy and waited for the other champions to arrive. He didn’t want to leave any of the champions here. Cedric showed up next and grabbed Cho. Then Krum who grabbed Hermione. When Fleur was still nowhere to be found Harry made his decision. He picked the rock back up and pulled out his wand with his other hand. He threatened the merpeople to stay back and cut the little girl free. He then grabbed both her and Malfoy and darted off through the water and back to the shore. He was slowed down by the two people he was dragging with him.

He was starting to feel the effects of the Gillyweed wear off. His head broke through the surface by the edge of the lake. The crowd seemed to think Malfoy and the girl might be dead but then they both opened their eyes, and they both gasped. Draco saw the girl on the other end of Harry and shook his head.

“You idiot, you played the hero, didn’t you?” Malfoy half shouted over the sounds of the crowd.

“I wasn’t going to let her drown!” Harry yelled back.

“Please Potter, you don’t actually think Dumbledore would let that happen, do you?” he asked incrediously.

“But – the song! It said –“

“It was just a song, meant to provide incentive. No wonder you need my help Potter.”

People on the dock then helped them all get up onto land. It turned out all of Harry’s waiting had kept him far outside the time limit, but when the merpeople explained what happened Harry got second place, just behind Cedric Diggory.

Harry watched when they finally let the people from the stands come down to greet them. Pansy ran right to Hermione and gave her a tight hug before she had time to react. Ron on the other hand came up to Harry. He looked like he was finally understanding something as he looked between Harry and Malfoy. Whatever he’d realized Ron didn’t say it out loud and pulled Harry into a bro hug. Then he shook Malfoy’s hand.

Harry wasn’t sure what possessed Ron to do that, but no one said anything.

Then Remus approached. Harry had almost forgotten he was coming.

“Good work Harry,” Remus said with a smile. He then looked to Harry’s friends, Malfoy still standing among them. Even if he hadn’t been though, it was kind of hard to hide that he’d been Harry’s hostage. 

“Thanks Remus,” Harry said. He kind of wished the towel around his shoulders could swallow him whole right now. 

“It’s nice to see you all,” he said nodding to all of Harry’s friends. “Thank you for keeping my godson from making a fool of himself at the Yule Ball Ms. Parkinson,” he said teasingly. Harry had written about it a few letters ago.

She laughed. “Thank you! I wish I could take full credit, but it was actually Draco who taught Harry all the moves.”

Harry’s eyes went to the ground and felt his cheeks flush as he felt the curious glances of Ron, Hermione, and Remus on him. 

“Is that so?” Remus asked. When Harry looked back up Remus looked contemplative with an eyebrow arched and a slight smile on his face. 

***

Harry received a letter shortly after the second event from Sirius. It congratulated Harry on completing the second task and mentioned Sirius’ new-found love of skittles. Harry wondered what Mr. Weasley’s reaction would be to the muggle treat. 

What struck Harry though, was the end of the letter. 

_Remus also mentioned that Draco Malfoy was your hostage. I hope you know that you can tell us anything._

_With love,_

_Sirius_

The thing was, it’s not like Sirius had actually implied anything. It was the _with love._ Harry and Sirius had been sending letters back and forth all year, but this was the first time Sirius hadn’t just signed his name. It wasn’t like Harry didn’t know that Sirius loved him; it just felt like suddenly he was being handled with kid gloves. 

Harry didn’t write back right away. He wasn’t sure what to say.

***

It felt weird that Harry didn’t have to worry about the next task yet. It would be in late June, and they’d be told about the even a month in advance.

Over the next couple months everything slipped into a comfortable routine, for the most part. Harry could almost pretend it was a normal school year. Things were different, but that wasn’t bad.

One main difference had come after Rita Skeeter had released an article about Hermione’s _‘penchant’_ for going after famous boys, like Harry and Victor. Ron had been furious when he and Harry had seen the article at dinner; Ginny had been laughing as she read the article not taking it at all seriously when Ron looked over her shoulder. Ron was still under the impression that Hermione and Pansy were going to end up together. The girls in question hadn’t been at dinner when they found the article.

That night when they’d returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, they found Hermione asleep on Pansy’s lap as the Slytherin girl played mindlessly with the girl’s curly hair and read over the notes for her History of Magic class. Pansy had seemed surprising unaffected by the article.

Later that week, when Pansy and Hermione were eating breakfast next to each other, Blaise Zabini had approached Pansy and asked to have a word with her. Pansy stood up but before she left she lent down and gave Hermione a peck … on the lips, before leaving with Blaise. Hermione had been smiling to herself.

“I knew it!” Ron announced loudly gaining the attention of the few people at the Gryffindor table who weren’t already staring. Blush bloomed on Hermione’s cheeks but she just snapped to Ron that he was an idiot.

So, Pansy still spent just as much time with them as she had all year. Just now she was officially Hermione’s girlfriend. Pansy showed off Hermione all the time too.

Snape looked very tired of listening to Pansy loudly compliment her girlfriend his potions class. He tried to take House Points from Gryffindor when Pansy boasted about how smart Hermione was for the second time that class.

“Are you sure you want to do that Professor?” Pansy had asked.

“Yeah, they didn’t actually do anything,” Crabbe pointed out.

“If anything, you should be taking points from Slytherin because Pansy’s got a big mouth,” Goyle agreed.

Hermione shot Goyle a glare for that comment on Pansy’s behalf. Then Harry heard another Slytherin whisper (purposefully still loud enough for Snape to hear) near the back of the room, “do you think he’s homophobic or something?”

Snape looked furious that his house didn’t seem to be siding with him, but no one really lost points during Potions class after that.

***

It was April and all traces of snow were gone. Harry had been helping Hagrid with the Blast-Ended Skrewts. He hadn’t particularly wanted to help with the Skrewts outside of class but Harry hadn’t seen Hagrid in a while so he wasn’t going to complain.

“Harry,” Pansy called, catching up with Harry as he walked back to the castle.

“Hey Pansy,” he said cheerfully.

“Have you heard from Draco recently?” she asked. Harry just shook his head. Honestly the only time he’d spoken to the boy since the night of the Yule ball was at the second task. “Maybe you should try talking to him,” she suggested.

“I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear from me,” Harry said with a shake of his head. Sure, Malfoy enjoyed helping Harry with the Triwizard Tournament. He probably just enjoyed proving to Harry that he knew more than _the boy who lived._

Pansy shook her head. “Look Harry, Draco’s been helping you out all year. He’s going through a lot right now though and I think it would mean a lot to him if you returned the favour.” Harry had realized that Malfoy hadn’t just been ignoring Harry recently, he hadn’t been talking to anyone much lately. Even Crabbe and Goyle hadn’t seemed to be able to get more than a few words out of the boy at a time. 

“How am I supposed to help when I don’t even know what’s wrong,” Harry asked defensively.

“Why don’t you start with asking him what’s wrong?” Pansy asked.

***

A few days after that Harry had been walking out of his divinations class upstairs and was headed back to his Common Room when he looked out the window; outside he saw Malfoy sitting by the lake brooding, just like Harry had last year. Harry decided to go out and check up on him. Pansy’s words from the other day still stuck in his head.

“Malfoy,” Harry announced as he sat down next to the blond. Malfoy looked surprised to see Harry but then shrugged.

“Missed me Potter?” He asked, his words laced with their regular rehearsed malice.

“Look … Malfoy, you haven’t been yourself lately … and I was just wondering if you needed my help,” Harry asked cautiously. He had no idea what he was doing.

“Not much you can do about it Potter,” he admitted. The blond looked out at the look seeming content to ignore Harry after that. They sat in silence for a bit. Harry was starting to feel kind of useless and was blaming Pansy for getting the idea in his head that he could do something about it.

“Why don’t you just tell me what’s wrong?” Harry asked, sounding impatient.

Malfoy just looked at Harry quizzically. “What do you think is bothering me?”

“How would I know?”

“Do you even read the papers – whatever,” Malfoy said. He sounded like he was trying hard to not care, but Harry could tell there was something really worrying him.

“I’ve just seen a few of Rita’s articles lately,” Harry admitted, people had showed him those. Harry hadn’t made a habit of reading articles much recently, he didn’t enjoy reading about articles like _Hunt for Sirius Black Continues_ , or _Harry Potter the Prepubescent Triwizard Champion._

“That’s not even real news,” Malfoy rolled his eyes. Harry laughed and assured Malfoy that he knew that.

Blaise asked to speak with Malfoy after that, and the two Slytherins left Harry by the lake after that.

***

Harry asked Sirius to send him the Daily Prophet’s Sunday papers from the past few months. He figured that would give him a good summary of what had gone on in the wizarding world recently. Both his godfather’s read them regularly, and Harry knew they tended to keep a stack of the ones that seemed to hold important information.

He didn’t explain why he wanted them. Sirius didn’t ask and the next day Harry had received a large bundle of papers.

Harry was sitting in the common room and flipped though the papers first, scanning the headlines. Starting with the most recent and worked toward the older papers, and there was a lot to go through. Sirius had sent him everything since October, which was a lot more than he asked for.

There was a lot of stuff about the Ministry’s search for Death Eaters. Also, stuff about Sirius Black, sighting Harry knew weren’t legitimate (a lot of ‘sightings’ near where Bertha Jorkins had allegedly disappeared). Stuff about Harry too, and some general Triwizard info and history. They also talked about how Crouch had fallen ill, which Harry had known since Percy had been coming to Triwizard events in Crouches place.

Then he was all the way back to the articles in December when he saw it. Between _Creative Ways to Repurpose Unwanted Gifts like Sneakoscopes_ and _Hogwarts’ Hagrid: A Half Giant._

_The Ministry’s Search Continues, Malfoys on Trial._

It turned out the ‘family emergency’ Malfoy had to attend after the Yule ball was actually a Ministry Interrogation. The Ministry was reopening a lot of past cases about the affiliations of accused Death Eaters.   

All three Malfoys had been questioned by the Ministry after Christmas. Flipping back to more recent articles Harry started to actually read through the articles on Death Eaters. There’d been a few smaller scale attacks (in comparison to the events of the World Cup) on muggles that the Daily Prophet believed was likely in retaliation to the Ministry’s actions.

They’d also opened full criminal investigations against a few of Voldemort’s followers. Among those currently in question were Thorfinn Rowle, Amycus Carrow, and Lucius Malfoy.

“Finally figuring it out Harry?”

Harry looked up to see an impressed Pansy.

“How am I supposed to fix this?” Harry asked. He didn’t even want to, he was certain Lucius Malfoy deserved what was coming.

“No one wants you to fix anything, maybe you could just be a friend to him,” she suggested.

“Malfoy has friends,” Harry pointed out.

Pansy rolled her eyes. “A friend who isn’t scared to associate with him cause their family might come into question too, or one who talked to him about something other than his father’s trial.”

She looked contemplative for a minute before adding, “and maybe stop calling him Malfoy like it’s a bad word. You could try Draco.”

“He calls me Potter!”

“You two are so stubborn.”

***

Harry sat down across from Malfoy at dinner the next day. It felt like the entire Great Hall was watching him. A few Slytherins glared at him but most just looked confused.

“Did you hear about the Puddlemere United team’s game against the Wigtown Wanderers?” Harry asked Malfoy before he could lose his nerve.

“You would ask about the team with former Gryffindor Oliver Wood,” Malfoy replied, but Harry didn’t miss the way his face brightened. They spent the rest of the meal talking about Quidditch, and Crabbe and Goyle joined in too. Pansy came and sat next to Harry, she looked extremely proud.

“See, told you we don’t bite,” Pansy teased nudging Harry in the side.

“Unless you’re into it,” Blaise mused.

Crabbe and Goyle were quick to laugh. “You offering Zabini?” Crabbe asked playfully.

***

The Triwizard champions were told that the third and final task would be a maze, the Quidditch pitch currently being transformed. In the Maze they’d face magical creatures and be in a race to find the Triwizard Cup, whoever touched it first would win.

After that Victor Krum asked to speak to Harry. At which point Harry had the unfortunate task of telling Victor that although he was not dating Hermione, Pansy was.

Victor Krum did not have much time to process that as an incoherent Barty Crouch came staggering out of the forest.

Harry hadn’t been able to get Dumbledore out fast enough. Krum had been found stupefied and Crouch missing. News of his disappearance came out days later, tying it to the recent surge of Death Eater attacks.

***

It was in the dreaded Transfigurations class that Harry had his next dream. Another of Voldemort and Wormtail. In it Voldemort says that someone has died, and because of that he won’t feed Wormtail to Nagini. The Voldemort says that he will feed Harry to Nagini instead.

Harry rushed to Dumbledore’s office, right past Trelawny who was trying to turn Harry’s dream into some sort of prophecy.

Dumbledore reinforced Harry’s belief that these dreams were a result of a link between Harry and Voldemort. His theory was that they were moments of intense hate that Harry could see.

Harry also wrote about it to Sirius who told him to be extremely careful, reminding Harry that someone was still after him.

Rita Skeeter released another article. This one about Harry’s dream incident in transfiguration. Hermione had a theory about Rita was collecting the information but Hermione didn’t share it then.  Harry had been sitting with the Slytherins that morning. He’d sit there every so often and Hermione and Ron joined him now (Hermione had already been occasionally sitting there with Pansy, the table didn’t seem to matter to them as long as they were sitting together).

“Always knew I shouldn’t have trusted you Harry,” Malfoy said as he finished reading the article.

“Funny, I thought it was me that didn’t shake your hand,” Harry replied taking back the article to look back over it. Malfoy just got quiet at that as Ron laughed.

“You feeling ready?” Pansy asked Harry, ignoring Malfoy’s injured ego. It was the day of the third task after all.

That afternoon the Remus and the Weasleys showed up to support Harry. They’d all had dinner together at the Gryffindor table. Everyone wished Harry luck when he was called to go down to the maze.

Harry would enter the maze first with Cedric as their points were tied for first after the previous two tasks.

The maze looked ominous but Harry was ready.

Harry waited for Bagman’s whistle.

_Three._

_Two._

_One._

Harry ran into the maze.

***

Draco Malfoy was a terrible person. 

He knew that he must be. 

He’d been up in the stands with Pansy. That meant that he was also just a few seats away from not only Hermione, but also all of the Weasley’s and Harry’s godfather as well. He could feel many eyes look over at him while Harry was in the maze, ranging from looks of curiosity to distrust. He tried his best to make it look like he didn’t care nearly as much as he did about Potter’s well being. 

His heart had stopped when the pile of limbs had appeared in a lump so far away he could barely make out the unruly curls on the boy’s head.

_Potter._

There wasn’t a doubt in Draco’s mind that Harry Potter was there, so far - too far, below him. He wanted to close the distance. To reach out and touch Potter. To know he was okay.

There was a large shuffle of people around Potter. Draco wasn’t paying attention to any of them though. 

_“He’s dead!”_

Draco’s heart shattered into a million pieces. 

_“He’s dead!”_

Draco hadn’t thought anything could hurt this bad.

_“Cedric Diggory! Dead!”_

The image in front of Draco finally came into focus, it wasn’t just Harry’s body lying there, someone else was there too. Now someone was dragging a flailing and very much alive Harry off of what Draco now knew was a lifeless Cedric Diggory. 

And Draco had never been so relieved in his life.

Draco Malfoy was a terrible person, because Cedric Diggory had died. The Cedric who hadn’t judged him when he’d heard the gossip circulating about Draco at the start of the year. The Cedric who had told him about the clues so that Draco could try to figure out what they meant and help Potter. The Cedric who had fixed Draco’s hair and pushed him toward Potter at the ball that night when he’d been unsure how to approach the boy. 

And Draco didn’t care.

All Draco could think about was Harry Potter. He was alive.

The boy who _still_ lived.

_Harry._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update will be on Monday May 28 between 7-11 p.m. (EDT)
> 
> ((I’M SO SORRY, I know I originally promised an update Thursday but like got really crazy and I got sick so I had to push it back a bit))
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr (maybe if you want) pinknbluepolkadots.tumblr.com/
> 
> ((also yes the last scene was from Draco's perspective, that was intentional. However, at this moment it is that only scene I've planned to have out of Harry's perspective))


	4. Year Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to hideinthecitynight (avoidbrightstreetlights) who made this chapter so much better!
> 
> I realized last week that on the last chapter I had posted the wrong date for the next update, I fixed it but I'm sorry if that confused any of you!
> 
> Also sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the last ones but chapter 5 will make up for it (hopefully)!

 

**Chapter 4**

_Year 5_

_a.k.a. the year everyone was in a relationship_

That summer was nothing like Harry had expected.

With Voldemort’s return he knew that things would change. He’d just never anticipated _this._

The Order of the Phoenix was reinstated. Which apparently meant that his home at 12 Grimmauld Place became a centre for Dumbledore’s growing resistance and that Harry and his godfathers were now sharing the house with seven of the Weasley’s, Hermione, and, oddly enough, Oliver Wood.

The House itself wasn’t happy about it. Last summer, when there was just the three of them quietly cleaning up, the House seemed to care much less. Sirius’ mother’s portrait was throwing a fit every day now, while last summer she could be heard only once a week. Kreacher also didn’t look all too pleased with the development and it didn’t help that Hermione kept trying to offer him help, which he quite clearly took as an insult.

To make matters worse, countless of other members often came in for meetings, quite a few of them even staying over for a few days at a time. Some of the most memorable regular visitors were: Mad-Eye Moody (the real one, as they learned that the one who taught D.A.D.A. last year was actually Barty Crouch Jr.), Nymphadora Tonks, Rowan Khanna, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus Fletcher, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle, Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore, and Hestia Jones. There was also Albus Dumbledore who was being far more secretive than usual. And, most unpleasantly/unfortunately/of course, Severus Snape. 

“How come you invite Snape over, but Pansy can’t be here?” Ron asked at dinner. For weeks, he and Harry had been watching Hermione argue with everyone who said Pansy couldn’t be there.

“Snape is an adult and on our side,” Remus explained diplomatically. “Pansy is not old enough to become a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and even if she was, she would have to abandon her whole family who chose to remain impartial. For now, this is for the best.”

“See, but we are old enough -“

“- We’re of age now,” the twins chimed in.

“You are still students and therefore far too young,” Mr. Weasley said sounding exasperated. The twins had been trying to convince everyone to let them drop out of school and join the Order since the summer started. 

“You’re so lucky,” Harry could hear Fred muttering to Oliver.

All the adults were trying to convince them to simply enjoy their summer and embrace their youth, or whatever. As if Voldemort’s return wasn’t looming over everyone’s head. 

That same week Hermione received a package from Pansy. No one was totally sure how she’d gotten an unknown Owl through the wards, but Hermione was far too happy to question it. Pansy sent her a two-way mirror and they now spoke constantly. Every once in a while Pansy would want to talk to someone else and the mirror would be passed around.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny all teamed up to try and figure out what went on with the Order. They weren’t  telling Pansy about it for the time being, but she was smart, she knew it was connected with Voldemort’s return.

Every paper was covering it. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, became a bit of a laughing stock. He was still adamantly denying Voldemort’s return. He said that the tragic deaths of Bertha Jorkins, Barty Crouch and Cedric Diggory were solely linked to the  despicable Death Eater attacks last year. (These attacks stopped when Voldemort came back, in part because Voldemort was hiding from Dumbledore, and also because they were probably planning something bigger).

A lot of people had already believed that Voldemort was back when Death Eaters started testing the waters last year. This just confirmed their suspicions. Many wizards chose to remain neutral until the plans of each side became clearer. There was no denying that most wizards had already figured out the truth though.

_Most wizards._

Percy Weasley was hanging onto every dumb word Cornelius Fudge said.

Harry learned quickly that no one talked about Percy now. He’d insulted his family, their affiliation with Dumbledore, and then left them all and moved to London. Now, whenever he was brought up,  Mrs. Weasley cried.

It was midsummer, the familiar crack of air echoed through the room – which meant that the twins apparated into Harry and Ron’s room uninvited yet again.

“Hey Harry!” George said cheerfully. Yet he was careful to keep his voice down so that Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t catch them.

“Mind if we keep these here?” Fred asked holding up a bag of Extendable Ears.

“What makes you think we want to get caught with those?” Ron asked as both boys saw Mrs. Weasley flip out just a mere day ago when she found Fred and George’s last stash. She ominously promised that the next person caught with such a device would have to clean out the mysterious cabinet on the second floor that occasionally rattled. They supposed that if it hadn’t been opened in over a decade, then there was a good reason for it.

Fred pouted and inclined his head as his brother pleaded.

“Please, we tried to get Ginny to hide some but Hermione banned us from their room,” George said. Harry just raised an eyebrow. If Hermione was against something that usually meant that they should be too. “I promise, if Mum finds them, I’ll say I hid them here without your permission.”

Ron and Harry locked eyes and had a silent conversation before both nodding at the same time.

“You’re the best!” Fred declared as they started to search around the room for the best hiding place.

There was another crack.

“Seriously?” Oliver asked looking unimpressed but not surprised as he watched his roommates search frantically around the room for a prime hiding spot.

“Well, we wouldn’t need them if you just told us what went on in these meetings,” George pointed out as they settled on a loose floorboard under Ron’s bed.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “I tell you as much as I can,” he defended.  

“And what exactly did you tell us?” Fred asked in disbelief.

Oliver looked at them as if he couldn’t believe they didn’t remember all the details he’d shared with them.

“I told you about the Order, the – the mission, why Voldemort is scared of Dumbledore … and how we’re recruiting members,” Oliver said exasperated as he looked around and saw all the unimpressed faces. To be fair, Oliver was a lot more forthcoming than Tonks or Bill was.

Bill was spending his summer swooning over Fleur. Tonks kept herself busy flirting with an oblivious Remus just to ruffle Sirius’ fur. Harry had a feeling the only reason she wasn’t saying anything was not to risk the wrath of Molly.

“Sirius already told me all that,” Harry pointed out.

“Yeah, and then Harry told us,” Ron said.

“Sirius even mentioned something about a weapon Voldy was looking for,” Fred boasted.

“Or at least he had started to tell us before Mum cut him off.”

Oliver looked stunned. “Well I don’t think I can tell you anything about that …”

Fred patted the older boy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, you can make it up to us by getting us tickets to your next Quidditch match.”

Just before the three disapparated back to their room, Harry heard Oliver whisper to himself, “I can’t believe Sirius told them.”

The fact that Sirius was keeping them so generously informed infuriated Molly Weasley to no end. They had very different parenting techniques and if Remus and Arthur Weasley had not been there to keep the peace ... Harry wasn’t completely sure they wouldn’t have killed each other by now. 

Sirius was also slowly losing his mind. _A little bit_. Since Wormtail had likely told Voldemort about his animagus form, Dumbledore was making him stay inside. Everyone got upset with Remus for letting Sirius work the part time muggle job for so long when they eventually found out about it, which only further infuriated Sirius.

He made his _own decisions dammit._

Some days Harry would just watch Sirius in his dog form follow the sun spots from the window around the sitting room all day (Crookshanks usually kept him company on those days). 

To make matters worse, Harry’s scar continued to hurt that summer and it felt like the more it happened, the harder it was to tie the occurrence to something specific.

***

Harry wasn’t sure where the twins were on the Hogwarts express. He was currently sitting in a compartment with Ginny and a Ravenclaw girl in her year, Luna Lovegood.

Ron and Hermione both had to go to the prefects’ cabin. Pansy was a prefect too. Harry heard her and Hermione talking about it over the mirrors when they got their letters the other day. 

Harry was upset and felt left out at first, but Sirius told Harry about how neither he nor James had been prefects. He also teased Remus quite incessantly for being a prefect. 

Remus reminded Harry that it wasn’t as if he hadn’t used the prefects’ bathroom before. Although when he’d written about that story in a letter to his godfathers last year … Harry had left out the part about Malfoy joining him. Apparently, according to his godfather, that bathroom was the only good thing in being a prefect. Playing the hall monitor was tedious (especially when your friends use you to sneak out of the common room after hours). Harry suddenly realized that at least this way he had connections without actual responsibility. 

Half way through the journey to Hogwarts, Luna was explaining the origin of Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Harry wasn’t sure what that was. He noticed that Ginny didn’t seem to be surprised though and figured that Ginny had expected as much from her. 

“Have you seen Pansy?” A disgruntled Blaise Zabini asked, leaning through the cabin door and catching everyone off guard. He looked at Harry expectantly, ignoring everyones’ surprised stares.

“She’s in the prefect cabin,” Harry said. Zabini just nodded to himself and moved to sit across from Harry.

“Right,” Zabini said, continuing to shrug off the surprised looks in the cabin. “I figured she’d have snuck out by now.”

“She probably has,” Luna mused. “But I don’t see why she’d be here. Didn’t you say Pansy hasn’t seen Hermione in person all summer, Harry?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

“They still could talk over the mirrors,” Harry said a roll of his eyes. He was pretty sure Hermione had spent more time talking to Pansy than speaking to any of the people she’d actually been living with.

Ginny just kicked Harry’s foot from across the cabin and gave him a pointed look with a raise of her eyebrows.

 “I don’t think _talking_ is what Luna was insinuating,” she finally said when Harry lifted his shoulders and shook his head in confusion.

_Oh._

Harry really didn’t want to think about his closest friends in _that_ scenario.

Admittedly, Harry didn’t even think about trying to hide his discomfort, so it wasn’t surprising when Zabini’s comment was, “You’re such a prude, Harry.”

Ginny laughed and the two started talking about how _proper_ Harry was. Zabini was quick to point out how Harry was still a little lacking in the etiquette-department. _Whatever that meant._

They could both be as judgemental as they wanted to be, as far as Harry was concerned. He thought they should consider themselves lucky. They clearly hadn’t walked in on Hermione and Pansy in … compromising positions – more than once. What made it even more frustrating was that Pansy seemed to think it was hilarious whenever it happened.

He loved his friends.

Just … _locking charms_ … you know?

Ron wandered down to their cabin a little later. He had also stuffed his pockets with the Prefects’ complementary sweets. Luna was extremely good at guessing what each of the Every Flavour Beans were without ever needing to taste them. She took all the best ones and shared them with Ginny, leaving the rest of the cabin with the worst flavours imaginable.

Ron told Harry all about how McGonagall had spoken to the prefects. She insisted on reminding them of the importance of their role and consequences of giving students special treatment.

 “But she can’t seriously expect Hermione and I to be Prefects without keeping you in the loop, mate. I think she just had to say it as a formality, I swear she winked at me after!” Ron said clapping Harry’s shoulder. It made him feel better to know that his friends didn’t plan on keeping a ton of Prefect secrets from him or anything. “Did you know Malfoy is one of the Slytherin Prefects?” Ron asked.

Harry shook his head.

For a second Harry thought about the Malfoy who was so vocal about blood purity and adamant about Slytherin house superiority for as long as he had known him. His mind went even further and turned to that little Malfoy from what seems like years ago who tried so hard to catch Harry and his friends sneaking out just so that he could turn them in to Professors.  Then, he could not help but think about the Malfoy who took the time to teach any student who wanted to learn how to dance properly before the Yule ball, the one who helped him solve the clues for tournament.

Malfoy might be an okay Prefect after all. Harry heavily stressed the _might be_ though. He’d have to keep an eye on him - purely for the wellbeing of the poor unsuspecting Gryffindor first years. _Naturally._

***

Everyone was sitting at their actual house tables for the opening feast. Hermione and Pansy kept stealing glances at each other from across the hall though. Harry thought it was cute.

“Hey mate,” Ron whispered to Harry as the houses settled in before opening speeches. Everyone at the Gryffindor table seemed to be whispering about the fact that Grubbly-Plank was going to replace Hagrid again for she had led the first years to the boats earlier and also was sitting at the Professors’ head table.

Harry was worried about Hagrid, about why he was replaced and why he was missing, so he was already planning a trip to Hagrid’s hut as soon as possible.

“Did you feel any king of weird vibe between Ginny and Zabini on the train?” Ron asked keeping his voice to a low whisper which Harry knew wasn’t always easy for his best friend; one of Harry’s favourite things about his best mate were his excitable tendencies.

“Not really,” Harry brushed off. Zabini was being chattier than Harry had ever seen him. Then again, Ginny was good at getting the conversation going when she felt like it, so he didn’t feel like jumping to hasty conclusions.

“Are you sure?” Ron asked. “You don’t think they might _fancy_ each other?” Ron asked.

“Seriously, Ron? You predict Pansy and Hermione’s relationship and suddenly you’re the relationship police?” Harry teased. Ron had also helped set Bill and Fleur up over the summer. The twins played quite the roll in that too, not that they’d admit it. Harry was starting to think all the Weasley’s were secretly romantics.

Maybe not Percy though.

“You’re right, it’s probably nothing,” Ron mumbled, shaking his head as if to dispel the thought.

Then everyone’s attention shifted as the sorting started.

Harry couldn’t help but notice that Draco’s eyes stayed trained on the surface of the table in front of him. He looked lost in thought. Harry wanted to shake Crabbe and Goyle on either side of Malfoy. They were his friends, shouldn’t they be trying to cheer him up?

***

“Delores Umbridge is bloody mad,” Ron said to Harry and Hermione as they were heading back to their common room after the feast.

“Ron,” Hermione admonished, giving him a warning look. They were helping to lead a few first years which had been previously separated from the group while talking to Nearly Headless Nick back to the common room.

Harry decided to run his plan to visit Hagrid by his friends instead. They also shared a few stories about Hagrid with the first years, who now looked very excited to meet the half giant.

Later Harry would learn that Hagrid was still on his mission and that was why he had yet to return to Hogwarts.

He thought that the Order back home really should have told him about that.

Back in the common room Seamus hesitantly asked Harry if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was really back. The papers had started to lean a bit heavily on the scare tactics, leaving everyone on edge. There had been quite a few articles recently about dementors wandering far outside their posts which made everyone nervous. So Harry told them about Voldemort’s return. A few people looked sceptical, but no one outright called him a liar.

Harry, Hermione and Ron hung back after everyone else headed up to bed.

“So, ‘Mione, you agree that Umbridge is batty, right?” Ron asked enthusiastically.

“The Ministry is definitely trying to meddle with Hogwarts, they’ll likely attempt to discredit Dumbledore as well,” Hermione observed.

“I’d like to see him try! Cornelius Fudge is such an idiot,” Ron scoffed.

“Have you heard from Percy lately?” Harry asked Ron. Umbridge’s speech, the one she’d used to cut off Dumbledore, was a thinly veiled attempt to brainwash the students. Harry was sure of it. She’d spouted pointlessly against progress and about the importance of maintaining a balance between the old and the new. Harry wondered why Percy always seemed so quick to bring his loyalty to the wrong sort of people.

Could it really be just for status? Could Percy not see how unhappy he himself looked in the photos Harry had seen of Percy in the papers over the last couple of months? Percy standing with high ranking officials who, for the most part, looked equally as miserable as him.

***

Everyone was on the Quidditch Pitch; Ron wanted to practice for the Quidditch tryouts at the end of the week so they selflessly decided to accompany him. They’d played a mini game - Ginny, Ron, and George vs Pansy, Zabini, and Fred. They’d each won once and were taking a break now. Since there was only one seeker, Harry was chasing the snitch around on his own, not officially a member of either team.

“You can’t help them with this, you’re a Prefect for Merlin’s  sake,” Hermione whined as Pansy tucked a bundle of Fred and George’s advertisements in her bag so that she could distribute them in the dungeons.

Hermione insisted that Fred and George could not test their products on their classmates this year. She was trying to take her role as a Prefect seriously. She was furious when she found out they didn’t plan to take their N.E.W.T.s the following year. If Pansy hadn’t been there to talk her out of it, Harry was pretty sure she would have written a very wordy letter to Molly Weasley immediately.

Only Fred, George, and Harry knew that he’d given them his Triwizard Money. Technically, they could leave school and start their store _now_ if they really wanted to.

“Stop trying to scare off our helpers,” Fred pouted at Hermione who had ‘talked’ Ginny out of helping the twins and they weren’t too happy about it. What actually happened was Hermione _trying_ to talk Ginny out of it, and then Zabini sitting next to Pansy at the Gryffindor table and then him saying that he thought that the jokes were dumb. Ginny agreed to stop after _that_.

Ron was eager to whisper _I told you so_ to Harry.

Then Ron realized that this was his baby sister and a Slytherin two years older than her who didn’t have the best track record with committed relationships. It was actually kind of funny how Ron kept trying to stand between them and that he now tended to chat with Zabini in some odd effort to distract him.

It wasn’t working. If anything, Harry was pretty sure it only led to more lingering glances between Ginny and Zabini.

“I’d be surprised if you got more than 5 orders from Slytherin students,” Zabini chimed in with a roll of his eyes.

“Want to put money on it?” Ginny asked.

“Please, Weasley, I don’t want your money. Let’s make this interesting,” he said turning to Ginny with a devious smile.

“Let’s,” she declared defiantly.

“Uh, Zabini, where’s Malfoy been recently? I’ve missed his little ferret face,” Ron said. Harry had a feeling it was too late to undo their previous agreement though.

“Malfoy is pouting like a child as per usual, but I assumed you knew that as you see him at Prefect meetings. I’ll make sure to tell him that you miss him,” Zabini said as he gathered his things. “I should actually be going. Ginny, I’ll let you know what I want when I win,” he said as he turned back toward the castle.

“It’s cute that he thinks he can win, isn’t it?” Ginny asked rhetorically. The twins looked amused but Ron just looked worried. Harry decided that he’d call Ron’s protective behaviour his Molly-Instincts.

***

Harry had been looking for Malfoy when he ran into Cho Chang. It didn’t make his thoughts stop revolving around the blond though.

The Slytherin had gotten taller over the summer. Not that Harry could tell by how much exactly. He wasn’t yet able to get close enough to Malfoy to actually tell by how much he’d grown.

Malfoy was quieter too. Harry had seen Malfoy go quiet before. Harry now knew it meant that something was wrong and he wanted to figure out what it was. Harry wanted to _fix_ it. It’s just that whenever Harry went to approach Malfoy, the boy would disappear.

Malfoy had definitely been avoiding Harry.

“Harry?” Cho asked breaking Harry from his thoughts.

“Yes, Cho,” Harry replied with a smile he hoped didn’t look too forced. He needed to find Malfoy and get to the bottom of this.

***

“Malfoy?” Harry asked freezing in his tracks.

He’d walked into the kitchen so that he could check on Dobby and Winky. Harry didn’t really expect to see Malfoy here eating dinner, no wonder Harry hadn’t been able to find him before. Where else had he been hiding? Harry noticed the other boy’s absence at quite a few meals but on the bright side at least this assured Harry that Malfoy was eating.

“Harry,” Malfoy said looking just a bit startled. It was all the confirmation Harry needed to know that Draco was in fact avoiding him. Harry sat down across from Malfoy at a little table tucked to the far-side of the kitchen.

“Harry?” Harry repeated after him incredulously. It sounded weird the way Malfoy said it. Too light, ‘Potter’ had always packed a greater punch. This made them sound more like friends.

“That is your name, isn’t it?”

“Of course, yeah … Draco.”

Harry didn’t miss the way Draco’s lips tugged up at the corners of his mouth when Harry said it. _Draco._ It was odd, saying his first name would definitely take some getting used to. Harry wasn’t about to be bested by Draco though.

“I never thought I’d see you here, Draco, is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine, I just needed some space to think,” Draco said carefully.

“Well, what have you spent the last week thinking about?”

All Harry could hear for a while was the bustling movement of the house elves around him as he waited for an answer.

“Loyalties.”

Harry nodded. Then dropped the new pair of fuzzy yellow socks he’d brought for Dobby off on the counter and left. Harry thought Draco wanted to become his own person, he couldn’t even understand how the choice wasn’t clear. Harry could easily see which side of the war was just, and that’s why he was where he was.

How could Draco struggle with such an easy decision?

Some things never changed, even when you called them by different names.

***

Defense Against the Dark Arts with Dolores Umbridge was brutal. Not only did she insult Harry’s godfather Remus, she also took the most textbook approach to the course Harry had ever seen. When she tried to turn the class into an opportunity to preach her ridiculous beliefs to the students. Harry called her out on it.

He probably was _not_ supposed to do that.

Detention was literal torture. The quill wrote out every line he had to copy onto not only onto the parchment but his arm as well. It healed itself quickly but the pain of the skin splitting on his arm was real regardless.

When Harry told his friends about it they were furious. It was Pansy who suggested they replace the quill. The twins perked up at the challenge and for once Hermione not only approved but was helping.

It took them a whole week to perfect the quill. Luckily, as far as Harry knew, this week seemed to be reserved for the regularly scheduled Harry Potter detentions. Harry was glad none of the other students were going through it. On one day, during his detention, his scar hurt more than it usually did. Harry wrote Sirius ( ~~a.k.a. Snuffles~~ , they were actually just writing to Remus now, they knew Sirius would read them but it made the letters easier to explain if they were intercepted) about it. The next day was arguably the best day of Fred Weasley’s life (those were his words, not Harry’s, - not that Harry disagreed).

 An anonymous howler arrived to Umbridge the next morning. There was no sender’s name listed but when it’s voice erupted from the envelope all of the Weasley children recognized it at once.

_“If you ever, and I mean EVER, harm my child again your precious Ministry will not be able to keep you safe. I hope you understand me, Dolores Umbridge, or else this won’t be the last you’ve heard from me.”_

Umbridge looked pissed but she gritted her teeth without saying a word. Harry had a feeling that that wouldn’t be enough to convince Umbridge to back off but Harry couldn’t deny that it made him feel unbelievably loved.

_My child._

One of the reasons it took them so long to replace the quill was that it was hard to make the letters look like they were believably splitting skin but they worked it out. Pansy and Ginny had already gotten a word around to students that they were to act as if they were in pain if they ever had to use it.

That Friday night Harry snuck out under his invisibility cloak towards Umbridge’s office. Upstairs everyone was watching the map. Umbridge was in her quarters but if she got up, one of the twins would cause a distraction to slow her down before she could get to her office.

Harry managed to swap the quills easily enough. On his way back, he’d just made it out of the office when he tripped over the edge of his cloak and stumbled.

 _Shit._ He hissed out a curse. This had never happened before.

“Harry?” Came an equally low hiss. Harry spotted Draco just down the hall. He was looking in Harry’s general direction but couldn’t actually _see_ him.

Harry walked over and silently grabbed Draco’s wrist, pulling him into an empty classroom. It was dark and Draco’s lantern cast just enough light for Harry to see the soft curl of Draco’s hair over his forehead. He looked less put together at night. It was … nice.

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Who else owns an invisibility cloak?”

Harry admitted that was a bit of a give away.

“What were you thinking, lurking around so close to Umbridge’s office?” Draco demanded. He sounded _concerned_. That shouldn’t have made Harry feel as happy as it did.

Harry shrugged it off though.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” he assured him.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you’re a Prefect and you have certain _loyalties_ that should keep you out of a detention.”

Harry knew it was a bit of a low blow. He just didn’t know what to think, he was growing impatient waiting for Draco to make a decision. It had been weeks since the kitchen incident and Harry understood that Draco would continue to avoid him until he made his decision. Harry hated to think about what would happen if Draco chose the wrong side; Harry didn’t want Draco to disappear from his life forever.

“What do you know about my loyalties?” Draco asked through gritted teeth.

“I know that I don’t need time to think about mine,” Harry replied shortly.

Draco took a large step back and glared.

“Not all of us get to be the chosen one, Harry, some of us have to make those choices on our own. The path you’re set on will lead you one way and mine will lead me in the opposite direction. Think about it, how difficult it would be to deviate from the path life put you on,” Draco explained but Harry didn’t miss the fire behind his words.

“You are not powerless, Draco, and I suggest you stop pitying yourself before your time for making choices runs out,” Harry said, matching Draco’s intensity.

***

When Ron became the Gryffindor Keeper, he wouldn’t shut up about it.

Everyone was thrilled for him - but there was only so much Quidditch Hermione could bear to talk about and she was already way beyond that threshold. Which meant, for the most part, it’s just Harry, Ron, and Quidditch talk. Or at least, it _was_ all they talked about until it wasn’t.

After the first month of school, Fred and George tallied up their total sales for the month: 23 orders from Gryffindor (Hermione was appalled), 21 orders from Hufflepuff, 17 orders from Ravenclaw, and 11 orders from Slytherin.

As per Ginny’s request, Zabini was to take Ginny on a date. Ron nearly had a heart attack from such a demand so the whole time the two were out picnicking, Ron was up in the observation tower … _observing_. From a distance.

Of course, he dragged Harry, Pansy, and Hermione along as well.

“This feels creepy,” Harry said. Ron was using the binoculars from the Quidditch World Cup to spy on his sister.

“This _is_ creepy,” Hermione confirmed.

“Why can’t you just let Ginny date?” Pansy asked.

“She can date … just – just not _him_ ,” Ron said turning away from the window so he could sit and talk to his friends. Hermione snatched the binoculars away from him once he settled so that he wouldn’t be able to spy anymore. “Do you guys know how many hearts he’s broken?”

“Ginny knows that too, Ron. You have to let her make her own decisions,” Pansy said gently.

“I know,” Ron sighed.

They wound up listening to Pansy telling them stories about her summer. They’d spent so much time trying to avoid the finer details of their own summer when they spoke with her that they kind of forgot to ask Pansy about her own. Apparently, Goyle tripped while dancing with a Beauxbatons girl at a Zabini party. He tripped right into a tray of appetizers and spilled them all over Crabbe and Draco. The way she imitated their reactions was priceless.

***

Umbridge was appointed the _Hogwarts High Inquisitor,_ which was essentially just a free pass (handed to her by the Ministry) to let her do whatever she wanted.

She placed Professor Trelawny under the supervision. Hermione didn’t seem too broken up about it but the fact that Umbridge had the power to do that to a teacher made Harry wonder just how much she could change in Hogwarts, especially in regards to their lives as students.

Hermione thought that Harry should start teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Umbridge wasn’t planning on teaching it properly and there was a war on the horizon.

A few weeks later they finally set it up. They met at the Hog’s Head on the next Hogsmeade visit. There were many faces Harry recognized.

His friends from Gryffindor were there. Lavender was there, although Harry thought she might’ve just been there to hit on Ron. Cho was there too, although Harry wasn’t sure how to feel when he noticed that she kept sneaking glances at him. There were students from all different houses. There were some younger Slytherins but the only one’s Harry’s age were Pansy and Zabini.

The twins had also turned the meeting into a makeshift store for their Wizarding Wheezes.

Harry was anxious.

There were too many people. How was he supposed to teach _that_ many people?

Also, he kind of wished a certain blond was there. Actually, he _wasn’t_ going to think about that.

All in all, the meeting went well. It allowed them all to agree on their mission and set up for future meetings. They all signed a sheet Hermione organized where they promised not to tell about the group.

Umbridge outlawed team activities after that but it wasn’t as if they thought the D.A.D.A. training would be easy.

_Challenge accepted._

***

Meetings continued but now they were held in the Room of Requirement. They’d stumbled upon it by accident but Harry couldn’t have been more grateful. In meetings they practiced disarming charms, the impediment jinx, the Reductor Curse, and the Stunning Spell. Meanwhile, Umbridge continued to create the most ridiculous rules she could think of.

Draco never showed up to any of the meetings and he continued to avoid Harry. Harry decided that he wasn’t going to chase Malfoy down if he still hadn’t made up his mind.

That being said, Harry was starting to feel _lonely._

Lavender and Ron started dating, Ginny and Zabini were dating, Dean and Seamus _also_ were dating, and obviously Pansy and Hermione were dating. Neville and Luna weren’t dating but they’d formed an odd inseparable friendship. It just felt like wherever Harry went he was a third wheel.

So, when Cho approached him, it just kind of made sense to start dating.

They dated for two weeks.

It was awful. Not Cho, Cho was great. Sweet, athletic, smart, funny - yet she wasn’t right for Harry. It just felt wrong. Like they were constantly trying to force their relationship to work.

Harry kissed Cho and it was … _wet_. It was weird.

Harry knew that the first time you kissed someone wasn’t supposed to be perfect so he tried again the next day and then again, a few days later. It didn’t get better and if anything, it got worse. Cho just wasn’t the person he wanted to kiss.

They broke up.

***

It was almost Christmas break.

Umbridge banned decorations but she couldn’t get rid of the snow so it still felt like winter at Hogwarts.

Gryffindor won its first Quidditch match of the year against Slytherin.

Then suddenly, it was the final meeting before the holidays. Harry froze when he saw Draco walk through the door to the meeting between Pansy and Zabini. Throughout the lesson Draco stayed near Harry. Harry was busy teaching so they didn’t really talk.

Harry liked that he and Draco weren’t avoiding each other at this moment. He hoped that they could move forward like this. Harry hoped that this meant that Draco had chosen the right side; he didn’t know how to ask that out loud though.

As the meeting came to an end, people started to file out but Harry and his friends had hung back.

“Really, is that why she cast the silencing charm on Crabbe yesterday?” Pansy asked Draco. Everyone became much more interested in their conversation.

“Yeah, Crabbe hasn’t been able to stop singing the song,” Draco admitted.

“What song?” Fred asked. Harry could already tell he was scheming something.

“Dancing Queen, by some group called Abba. He learned about it in his Muggle studies class. They were learning the history and progression of music. Umbridge lost it when he couldn’t stop singing it in her class and then when she silenced him, he started tapping out the rhythm with his shoe,” Draco explained with mirth.

“Why did Crabbe take Muggle studies?” Harry asked.

“There weren’t any spots left in Ancient Runes,” Draco replied with a shrug.

“Goyle said he thought she looked like she was going to explode,” Pansy exclaimed.

“How interesting,” George said placidly, his eyes met his brother’s as the two shared a silent conversation.

***

Harry wasn’t sure how Fred and George had done it but he knew it was them.

The next day Harry was on his way to the class when he realized that music was following him around the castle. All the portraits around the castle were singing Dancing Queen. Sir Cadogan sang it loud and proud, while the Fat lady who guarded the Gryffindor commons just hummed it to herself.

At the end of the day Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Pansy were in the Gryffindor common room, laughing at the way Umbridge had run around the castle trying to make them stop. Too bad for her that portraits didn’t have to follow the rules she put in place. She hadn’t solved the problem yet but the paintings had grown tired so they now only sang the song as Umbridge passed them now.

“You know, Harry, if you brought Malfoy home for Christmas, the House would probably be thrilled,” Ron remarked out of the blue after their laughter subsided.

Harry thought back to when Sirius had talked him through his family tree that summer. Draco’s Mom was Narcissa Black, who also was Sirius’ cousin. Harry wasn’t actually biologically related to any of them.

“We could send him down to talk Sirius’ Mum whenever she gets into one of her moods,” Ron added.

Harry laughed, not really sure how anyone could possibly enjoy conversing with that particular portrait.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Harry teased.

“Hey, if Draco gets to go, then I’m going too!” Pansy declared.

“I wish you could but sadly neither of you can join us,” Hermione said with a sad smile. It was their last day before the winter holiday and the four of them wound up falling asleep on the couches of the common room talking about Professors, assignments, family, and Ron’s girlfriend Lavender until they passed out.

***

Just as McGonagall walked in to send them to their rooms, Harry woke up screaming.

He dreamt he was in a body of a snake that attacked Arthur Weasley at the Ministry.

_It wasn’t just a dream though._

The dream did serve as a warning, which allowed them to save Mr. Weasley in time. Nevertheless, Harry still felt awful.

McGonagall rushed Harry, Ron, and Hermione to St. Mungos Hospital.

Mr. Weasley was going to live but anyone could see that he was in a lot of pain in that moment.

In order to stay close to the hospital and to be safe everyone stayed at 12 Grimmauld place for the winter holidays. Harry enjoyed spending time with family. This was the first Christmas spent away from either Hogwarts or the Dursley’s. It was nice.

It was also somber.

Mr. Weasley made it home just in time for Christmas.

Oliver was staying with them again, he seemed a little more like himself now but still he wasn’t the same cheerful and determined man who’d been the captain on his Quidditch team.

 Hermione was using her two-way-mirror constantly again. Ron was receiving a seemingly endless stream of love letters from Lavender that Pig was more than happy to deliver to Ron.

Harry wondered what lavish thing Draco was doing right now.

Christmas morning was cheerful. Everyone exchanged presents and Mrs. Weasley had them all take a group photo in her homemade jumpers once they’d finished the gift exchange. _All of them_. The Weasley Family (even Charlie who was visiting) plus Harry, Remus, Sirius, Hermione, and Oliver.

They’d been eating dinner when the doorbell rang. It had to be someone from the order since they knew the address.

Remus got up and went to get the front door. Harry tried to guess who it could be. Tonks and Mad-Eye had joined them earlier today and were sitting at the table. Dumbledore and Snape would need to be with the students who stayed at Hogwarts –

Percy.

Percy walked into the room with his head held high. The second he stepped into the dining room Oliver scrambled to his feet and Percy walked right into his open arms. They looked like they were holding each other together.

Then Oliver kissed Percy, right there in the dining room. The twins were whistling and Bill was clapping, and everyone else looked pleasantly surprised.

“No wonder Percy broke up with his girlfriend,” Ron whispered absentmindedly.

When Percy and Oliver were finished with their reunion, Percy turned to his father. He apologized and asked how he was doing. He also hugged his mom and kissed her on the cheek.

***

A couple of nights later Harry was surprised by his friends waking  him up at 2 am.

Hermione turned on a dim lamp as the three of them sat in a circle. Pansy, of course, was there too. Not in person but looking through Hermione’s two-way-mirror.

“So,” Harry said slowly fighting through a yawn. “Why’d you get me up so early?” he asked curiously.

“Well, I think it’s time we had a chat, Harry,” Pansy said glancing around at people that had grown to become her best friends.

Harry shook his head. “We talk all the time Pansy.”

“Harry, you know that we love you,” Hermione began.

“But this is an intervention,” Ron finished for her resolutely, sounding a little to excited to be hosting a 2 am intervention.

Harry glanced between his friends in confusion.

“An intervention?”

“It’s time you admitted your feelings for someone,” Pansy said.

Harry squinted at them. He should have grabbed his glasses. “And this someone is…?”

“Harry, do you remember when we were at the Yule Ball?” Ron asked, full of determination. “You couldn’t take yours eyes off of them for long enough to listen to anything I said that night.”

Harry’s brain couldn’t catch up, it was still half asleep.

“You saved them in the second task,” Hermione hinted helpfully.

Of course, it was obvious now.

“You couldn’t be with Cho because you kept looking for this person instead,” Pansy added quickly.

“Draco,” Harry said, feeling a smile stretching slowly across his face. Soon the break would be over and seeing Umbridge would be a nightmare but the fact that it also meant he could see Draco made him feel like it maybe wasn’t so bad.

“Draco?” Ron spluttered.

“Ron,” Hermione hissed at him in reprimand.

“But Hermione! Look, I know we’re here to talk about Malfoy but when did we start calling him _Draco_?” Ron asked incredulously.

“When he started calling me Harry,” Harry replied with a shrug as if it was supposed to be obvious.

Ron couldn’t believe that he didn’t know that this had happened. Harry spent the rest of his night filling everyone in on the details that all or some of them did not know. Like Draco helping Harry with the hints, and Draco teaching Harry how to dance, and Draco taking a _bath_ with Harry.

That last one had been the only surprise for Pansy but absolutely all of this info was new to Hermione and Ron.

“How come Draco keeps his friends more informed than you do?” Ron complained.

“How come you didn’t tell me?” Hermione asked Pansy with a pout.

Pansy laughed, “It wasn’t my place to tell.”

“I like Draco,” Harry whispered his confession and couldn’t help the smile that refused to leave his face.

“We know mate,” Ron said with a laugh.

***

Technically, school was no less awful when they returned. They fell into the same routine … almost.

Harry was a bit afraid that the Dark lord would be able to possess Harry eventually. The last dream of the snake was more vivid than any other. Harry knew things could only get worse and he wanted to be ready for that.

Dumbledore thought the solution to that was having Harry practice Occlumency with Snape. Which was truly as awful as it sounded. Harry wished Remus were here to teach him. The man was so much better at breaking things down and encouraging his students to grow.

Snape was good at dissecting his students. He just had no interest in seeing his students succeed. He found it much more entertaining to watch them squirm.

Harry’s days were also a bit different. Now that Harry had ‘come to terms’ with his feelings, his friends were being _extremely_ supportive.

For example, now Harry was getting daily updates on Draco’s wellbeing from his friends. Pansy was also trying to drag Draco around to do things with them. She was never successful more than twice a week; which made Harry wonder if Draco even wanted to be there. He was no longer sure what decision Draco had made.

But Draco was there, more than he had been last term. Harry was grateful for that.

Life was weird.

Things got worse.

Umbridge fired Trelawny and Hagrid was under investigation.

A month later, Umbridge busted into their D.A. meeting with the help of Filch. The discovery of _Dumbledore’s Army_ leads to the disappearance of Albus Dumbledore. Which of course means that Umbridge becomes the headmistress.

The rules she set in place were preposterous without Dumbledore there to try and keep her on a leash.

_Boys and girls are not permitted to be within 8 inches of each other._

That one came first.

Lavender threw a fit. Hermione and Pansy walked everywhere hand in hand now.

_Students are to eat at their assigned house tables._

_No one_ was too happy about that one.

Wizarding Wheezes were also banned now. As was anything else that could have been considered mildly entertaining.

***

Harry felt like a failure.

Life seemed to be falling apart. His training with Snape seemed to be getting worse too. Harry was trying his hardest but his lack of progress was only driving Snape to be crueler.

Then Harry did something he under no circumstances was supposed to. He looked into Snape’s pensive and saw his father. _James Potter._

Harry knew that part of the reason his father seemed so awful was likely because of the perspective he’s seeing him through. Snape hated James.

Right then, Harry thought he might hate James too.

The things he’d just watched his father do …

Snape was so mad when he found Harry snooping that Harry was legitimately terrified.  However, now on his slow walk under his cloak back to the Gryffindor tower, it all had time to sink in.

There was so much going on in Harry’s head that he didn’t even realize he’s about to collide with someone who couldn’t see him until it’s too late.

“Harry,” Draco growled from the floor, pulling the cloak off of the distracted boy.

It’s only when he saw the concern in Malfoy’s eyes that Harry realized he’s shaking. Slowly he lifted his hand to his cheek. Yeah. He’s _crying_ too.

_Shit._

Draco helped them both slowly to their feet.

“What’s wrong?” Draco immediately inquired. Draco looked like he had a thousand things he’d like to say but couldn’t decide what the right one was.

“Draco?” Harry choked out.

“Yeah.”

“Can you just … hold me for a minute?” Harry whispered.

 He wasn’t even sure if he said the last words out loud but Draco still pulled Harry into his chest and Harry’s head curls easily into the blond’s chest.

“I’ve got you,” Draco whispered just as quietly.

More than you know _,_ Harry thought.

_More than you know._

  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to take a moment to thank all of you for your kudos and comments they make my day!
> 
> Next update will be Thursday June 14 between 7 - 11 p.m. (EDT)
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr: pinknbluepolkadots.tumblr.com/


	5. Interlude

**Interlude**

_ Year 5 [continued] _

_ a.k.a. the moment of epiphany  _

Harry wasn’t a fool; he knew that this was a trap.

It had been too easy. 

Actually, knowing that Voldemort had Sirius and Remus was probably one of the hardest things Harry had ever needed to comprehend. Over the past couple of years, Harry had grown so used to the support system the three had built together – the  _ family  _ they had built – that Harry didn’t want to think about a future without them.

Getting to the Department of Mysteries had been too easy though.

Every obstacle passed without a single hindrance, all due to the dream. Umbridge following Harry and Hermione willingly into the woods. The Thestrals being  _ so _ convenient. Entering the Ministry  _ that _ simple.

Harry wasn’t too concerned though. He knew that this was a trap just like he knew that Voldemort was using him for something. It wasn’t the first time, after all. And exactly that somehow made all of this easier for Harry to handle, while simultaneously making him less alert than he should have been. 

He stood at the end of the long row ninety-seven that stretched ahead of him. His friends were quiet and supportive at his side. Ron, Hermione, Pansy, Ginny, Neville, and Luna - all grounding Harry. He wouldn’t be alone this time; therefore, no one would die.

Harry had a sinking feeling when he realized that the row ninety-seven was no less eerily quiet than any of the others. He dismissed it though, refusing to let go of any shred of hope, proceeding to lead his friends into the unknown.

“They should be near here,” Harry could hear himself saying, being fairly certain it was himself he was trying to convince even more so than his friends. “Have to…somewhere … really close …”

“Harry?” Hermione called out to him sounding concerned and, perhaps, rather unsure. And Hermione was so rarely unsure of anything. 

“Must be about … here.”

The row ended, and yet Sirius and Remus were nowhere to be seen. Harry wondered if in the dull blue candlelight they had somehow walked right past the two. However, even in his increasingly panicked state, Harry knew that wasn’t possible.

“They might be …“ Harry tried to find any alternative desperately as he looked down the next row. It was as empty as the one they’d just walked into. “Or maybe …” 

“Harry,” Hermione said, surer of herself this time.

“What?” Harry snapped in fear and frustration, feeling the situation rapidly derailing out of control.

Hermione hesitated so Pansy took over, placing a careful hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think Sirius or Remus is here,” Pansy carefully admitted.

That wasn’t possible. Harry had seen the pair of them here in his dream. 

Harry started frantically looking around, only distantly aware of Ron calling him. 

“Have you seen this?” Ron asked, and Harry turned around abruptly, hoping it was a note, a clue, anything.

Harry’s heart sunk when he saw Ron pointing at one of the many dusty glass balls. Nothing out of the ordinary, or at least not for the Department of Mysteries.

“What?” Harry asked, sounding unimpressed and uninterested even in the slightest. 

“It’s – it’s got your name on it,” said Ron, his voice baffled.

“My name?” Harry asked weakly as his feet were already taking him closer to the mystical object so that he could inspect it. The ball itself was small and looked as if it hadn’t been touched in a long time. And sure enough, the caption under  _ did _ have his name engraved. It stated a date from nearly 16 years ago, and Harry wondered if it was made before or after he received the scar on his forehead.

_ S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. _

_ Dark Lord  _

_ And (?) Harry Potter _

Harry was distantly aware of Ron asking questions about why Harry’s name was on it as if Harry should inherently know about any object someone chose to write his name on. When Ron didn’t get any answers, he switched to asking about why no else who was there had their name on any of the surrounding balls. 

Harry found himself reaching for the ball without a distinct purpose in his mind. 

“Harry, I don’t think you should touch it,” Hermione warned, her voice sharp. 

“Why not? It has something to do with me, isn’t it? Then it’s mine by right.”

“Mate, don’t,” Neville urged him.

“It’s got _my_ _name_ on it,” Harry insisted, and, just before his fingers could close around it, his arm was yanked away, and he was spun to face Pansy.

“Not just your name Harry,” Pansy warned, looking upset with Harry for acting so thoughtlessly. “Have you forgotten why we’re here? You know this is a trap, he wants you to touch it so, please, don’t play his games,” she demanded, pulling Harry further away from the shelf. 

Slow clapping behind them made them all still at once.

“Pansy Parkinson, I always knew you were bright. How unfortunate that I had overlooked the light in you, that love of unworthy blood traitors and pathetic mudbloods. I expected more from you.”

Pansy’s hand twitched towards her wand and froze midway.

“Oh no, I am not here to  _ punish you _ . Although, your actions will not pass without any repercussions, young Slytherin. Now is simply not the time,” Voldemort said as if making a promise for later. 

Harry’s hair stood on end - he would not allow his friends to be ‘punished’ by Voldemort. Not anyhow, not ever. 

“Now,  _ Potter _ . Go fetch that prophecy for me, boy, and bring it here,” Voldemort demanded all too gently. As if he was a parent, or perhaps Harry a pet, twisted either sounded. Harry felt mildly incredulous, knowing with absolute certainty that there was no world where it would be considered normal for him to do anything for the noseless bastard.

“No,” Harry denied him resolutely, grateful that Pansy had the sense to stop him earlier.

Dark figures started emerging from the shadows one by one, encircling them. Their hoods were fully covering their faces, their hands holding their wands, all ready for battle. Harry’s friends had their wands drawn in response a second later. 

“Quickly, Potter,” Lucius Malfoy drawled with his palm outstretched as if waiting for a gift to be entrusted to him. He shot Pansy a withering stare while he awaited Harry’s reply. And Harry couldn’t help but feel proud of the way Pansy refused to shrink under his scrutiny.

“Where are Sirius and Remus?” He asked instead. 

“You are in no position to make the demands,” Voldemort said, looking him dead in the eye. Harry just crossed his arms in defiance.

Harry knew at that moment that their odds weren’t great. Bearing that in mind, odds had been worse and Harry and his friends were a determined bunch. They could do this; they  _ would _ do this. So Harry pushed the sinking feeling aside an focused on the problem at hand. 

The Death Eaters were all hooded and for this reason, Harry wasn’t sure who it was that pulled their wand first, or if he’d have been able to recognize them at all. All he knew was that in one moment everyone seemed to be holding their breath and in the next, the battle had begun. 

His friends, it seemed, were all more than capable of defending themselves. While Harry was busy deflecting a variety of spells aimed at him, he could see glimpses of his friends in his peripheral vision. It was clear that their private defence lessons had paid off, there was no way they’d all still be standing if they were to rely solely on Umbridge’s ridiculous course material. 

Just as Harry, caught up fending off a particularly persistent Death Eater on his left he felt a sharp spell graze his right side. It stung and Harry didn’t have to look down to know that he was bleeding but before he could turn to try and retaliate Neville was at his right side fighting alongside him. Holding his ground got easier with someone to cover your blind spot.  

Harry could see from his vantage point that Pansy, Hermione and Ron were working together similarly across the room. Hermione cast one spell that Harry had never seen before, causing a Death Eater to sink into the tiled ground as if it were quicksand. The ground stopped devouring him just before reaching his shoulders, rendering him defenceless.

Harry shouldn't have been surprised when none of the other Death Eaters seemed to bat an eye. The issue for them was that Harry’s team kept picking off Death Eaters one by one. Harry was a part of a team. The Death Eaters were all more experienced wizards, but they were individuals and that was their weakness.

Harry had already taken down two Death Eaters before one apparated right in front of him reaching for the boy’s collar. As the enemy took a quick step closer to Harry, far too close for comfort, Luna sent a spell that laced the hooded figure’s shoes together. The hooded individual tumbled to the ground and, finally, Nevill sent a spell that put them to sleep.

Luna and Harry wordlessly swapped positions. Luna now fighting alongside Neville as Harry went to find his godfathers. 

Before Harry could make it anywhere the voice interrupted his thoughts. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about  _ you _ ,” Voldemort’s nasally voice seemed to echo. Harry could feel the pressure of someone trying to use magic to influence his actions. He felt his fingers involuntarily twitch towards the same Merlin damned glass sphere. 

Harry struggled to curl his fingers into fists at his sides. Voldemort was walking slow circles around Harry now. He wasn’t the one casting this curse on Harry though; Harry wasn’t sure who was, his friends seemed to have most of the hooded figures occupied as best they could. 

Then it dawned on Harry.  _ Voldemort wasn’t casting the spell.  _ He wasn’t doing anything more than walking around Harry and he had yet to perform any magic at all. That was only the first clue though. 

Harry’s scar didn't hurt. There was maybe a dull ache, but it was far from the sharp searing pain that should come with standing this close to Voldemort. 

This Voldemort was only a projection. A mirage. He wasn’t actually here.  

“Come on now, Harry, do you not want the mutt and his pet back? I know that you do, but what’s to stop me from taking them. You were only a baby when I killed your parents, could hardly comprehend what I’d done. Now though, you’d fall to pieces.” Harry knew in his head that Voldemort was taunting him. That Voldemort wasn’t even here to do what he was suggesting. Yet, at least. 

That was what scared Harry most. It wouldn’t take much for Voldemort to make that threat a reality and Harry finally had a family again. “Now that I’m thinking about it, it sounds quite fun, doesn’t it?” 

Harry jerked forward despite the magic attempting to hold him in place. “You don’t like that do you? All you need to do is grab that one little object off the shelf for me,” Voldemort whispered in Harry’s ear, sending the most unpleasant chill down Harry’s spine. His proximity also caused a near constant throbbing behind Harry’s scar. 

The throbbing was almost comforting though. Although constant it was fainter than it had ought to be and Harry took what comfort he could in that.

“Then again you only really need one, maybe if you follow my orders I’ll give you one back. Both is just greedy though, isn’t it? I deserve to have some fun too Harry,” Voldemort pressed.

In the past, when Harry had to practice Occlumency, it hadn’t gone particularly smoothly. It had been difficult then and at the time there had been far fewer distractions. Aside from the already distracting throbbing in his head, Harry was also terrified of loosing the most important people in his life and that distracted him just as much as it pushed him to fight harder. There was also the fact that all of his friends were still battling around him and in his current state he could do nothing to help any of them. 

It was all distracting.

It didn’t help that in an effort to lower Harry’s guard, whoever was trying to manipulate him started poking around his memories. Harry could feel his fingernails digging angry crescents into the meat of his palms as he tried to counter the stranger’s efforts with nothing but sheer will. 

Voldemort laid his cold lifeless hand on Harry’s shoulder then. 

A  _ solid  _ hand. Voldemort must have apparated there while Harry was distracted by his mental battle. Voldemort was here, and now Harry’s scar hurt unbearably. 

Somewhere in the back of his head though Harry could recognize that Voldemort’s appearance made the Dark Lord vulnerable. They were all in the Ministry of magic and as much as the Ministry could be a pain, this was a place where Voldemort was not welcome. If the Death Eater’s appearance hadn’t alerted some higher up somewhere, Voldemort’s arrival certainly had. 

Voldemort was taunting Harry the whole time but the boy was too busy to pay him much attention, focusing on the struggle inside his own head. As the fingers started to dig into his shoulder, Harry heard Pansy scream somewhere far away, and then a woman’s deranged laughter echoed.

Over the still echoing laughter, there was a scream.

Harry was at once relieved and petrified. 

The scream had been Sirius’, Harry was certain of that. Which meant Sirius was alive. It also meant that Sirius was in pain and Harry couldn’t do anything to try and help the man in this state. 

Harry must have lost his focus as he was suddenly flooded with memories. 

He could feel the intruder sorting through his memories. They’d not yet passed the ones near the surface, those that were still recent, not more than the last 24 hours. Harry came to his senses quickly and began to push the intruder to the edges of his mind with a vengeance. 

Harry could feel as the wizard in his head grasped desperately to a surface memory.

Harry could feel himself drifting into that memory with his opponent. For a second Harry had the presence to wonder why they’d decided to latch onto this specific memory. Before he could think on it any further Harry was reliving it and all his current questions fell away. 

Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table. Delores had strict rules that kept the houses from congregating the way they once had. The food had also taken a terrible turn. The house elves had served nothing but the mediocre meal for weeks in what Harry had originally assumed was some sort of protest against Umbridge, probably as a result of her poor treatment of them. Everyone now ate nothing but cold beans. 

Harry had dropped by a few times to check on the house elves. They were all miserable and assured Harry that although they’d like to make something else Umbridge had cut the kitchen budget significantly. She’d also cut the staff in half and had created a long list of foods that the elves were no longer allowed to serve.

As Harry relived it, he found that the memory was lacklustre at best really. 

Why was this the memory he was reliving? Surely the intruder should’ve realized his mistake by now and moved onto a different memory.  

Then Harry watched the way his focus had shifted at dinner last night. All the other students seemed to fall away as his eyes focused on Draco. All the way across the dining hall, Draco’s chin tilted back as soft laughter bubbled past his lips. 

Pansy had thrown a cold bean at an unimpressed Zabini for some reason but Harry was too far away to discern why. 

That wasn’t important to Harry anyway.

The important part was the joy on Draco’s face and Harry’s overwhelming urge to be the cause of it. 

Harry still felt the thrill, even now, despite the fact that this was only a memory replaying in his head once again. As if sensing Harry’s thoughts, Draco’s eyes meet his across the hall.

Then Harry remembered that this was a memory. Draco wasn’t actually here right now. 

He used all his will to push the intruder out of his mind. 

His surroundings came crashing down around him.

There were too many Death Eaters. More must have appeared at some point while Harry had been occupied within his own head. 

Sirius was also here with Remus. They looked worn out but still fought next to each other as their lives depended on it.

Everyone was swept up in a furious whirlwind of motion. Harry found himself staggering as he moved to rejoin his friends. He saw the woman fighting his godfathers was steadily moving her fight with them away from the rest of the battle and towards the edge of the room. Voldemort had seemingly disappeared, Harry assumed that Voldemort had gone to retrieve the prophecy himself now that he was actually here. 

Harry noticed that the witch facing off against his godparents wasn’t alone either, there were two masked figures who seemed to move with her as if anticipating whatever her plan was. 

Remus and Sirius were backed through a doorway and out of sight. 

Harry had to make a decision. He could go after his family, or he could go after the prophecy. 

Harry darted away from where he’d been fighting beside Pansy and followed after his family without further hesitation. Harry could feel Hermione’s eyes follow him and he knew his friends would come after him as soon as they could. 

Harry ran down the hallway he’d just seen his godfathers disappear down with the woman who was once again laughing. It was a haunting sound. 

This room had an odd arch in the middle and it only took a second for Harry to know that something was wrong about it. Especially because the curly-haired witch was backing an unknowing Sirius toward it with ruthless spells. Harry could also tell that Sirius didn’t even realize how close he’d come to the arch with he back turned to it as he fought spell for spell against the witch.

“Sirius watch out,“ Harry called and then he cast a quick spell that sent his own godfather, Sirius, flying across the room and collapsing against a wall across the room.

“Harry!” Remus called sounding both concerned and confused. 

Harry didn’t have time to react to that though because he suddenly found himself face to face with the witch. The other two hooded figures occupied with Remus, at least Harry assumed they were.

This witch was stronger than the Death Eater’s he’d faced earlier. Quicker too. Harry was taking more hits than he’d care to admit but he was careful to make sure he never turned his back to the arch. He still couldn’t tell why he thought doing so would be dangerous, but he just instinctively knew it was a bad idea. 

She’d sent another spell his way and Harry did his best to deflect it. He managed to keep it from hitting his heart where she’d aimed it and instead his knee took its full force. 

A sharp pain stabbed through his knee and Harry knew what would happen just a second before he fell forward. He didn’t want to fall in front of the woman though. He knew that would mean excruciating pain as she hadn’t been hesitant to cast curses and Harry knew that he wouldn’t be able to defend against any of them if he’d collapsed forward onto his belly. 

Harry managed to catch himself on his good leg and ran forward a few steps as he tried to regain his footing. The adrenaline helping to distract him from the pain. 

Harry could hear footsteps in the distance.

He didn’t have time to figure out whose steps they were.

The witch had cast a spell that sent Harry’s wand flying from his hand before as he finally regained his balance.

Harry realized a few things all at once at that moment. Harry needed a wand. His was now across the room she’d have taken him out before he even gets near it. He also realized that in all his stumbling he was now only a few feet in front of the witch. They were also at the mouth of the arch, and he wasn’t sure what to do with that last piece of information.  

Harry  _ needed  _ a wand.

His only option was the one currently in the curly-haired witches hand. 

He darted forward trying to pry it from her grip. He’d never felt as much like a child as he had at that moment. Wrestling for a thing that he wanted seemed like something Duddly would do. 

She hadn’t expected this course of action and stumbled back grasping his wrist. 

He was about to fall through the arch with the witch who was once again laughing maniacally when a pair of arms wrapped around his middle and yanked him back. 

It turned out that the footsteps he heard earlier were Sirius’. He’d gotten up and run to Harry. 

Harry was on the ground half sprawled on top of Sirius when he looked up to see the woman drift through the arch, and then disappear. 

She was gone.

Harry was the reason she was gone.

Harry didn’t realize he was shaking until Sirius’ arms wrapped their way back around him. 

“It’s okay,” Sirius whispered to Harry as he rocked the boy in his arms. 

Harry noticed that Remus was running to them having defeated the two masked figures he’d been up against. 

“I-I killed someone,” Harry admitted defeatedly. He could feel tears track their way down his cheeks as Remus collapsed next to them wrapping both Harry and Sirius in his arms.

That was when Hermione burst into the room. 

“It’s done,” she announced out of breath with the rest of her friends following on her heels. “The Ministry is here.” 

\---

When Dumbledore appears at the Ministry later, things have settled significantly. Most of the Death Eaters were captured; Voldemort had escaped with the prophecy.

Harry tried to remind himself that this meant that Voldemort had gotten what he wanted.

All Harry could think about though was Bellatrix Lestrange.

It turned out that was the name of the curly-haired witch with the maniacal laugh. The one he’d  _ killed _ . 

As Harry and his friends were being questioned by the ministry the captured Death Eaters were also being escorted by ministry officials. 

They’d face trial in the next few days. Their cases would be placed on an accelerated schedule given the severity of their crimes and affiliations. After facing trial they would almost certainly all be moved to Azkaban. 

As they were lead out Lucius Malfoy glared at Harry.  

here had been more than just hatred for the ‘boy who lived’ in those eyes. Death Eaters didn’t appear to care as much for their teammates either. So as much as Beatrix’s death was eating Harry alive, he doubted that Lucius was thinking about that.

No. At that moment, Harry knew that Lucius was the one to infiltrate his mind. The reason for singling out the memory of Draco was suddenly clear.

\---

Dumbledore had seen how clearly distraught Harry was and as soon as the Ministry was finished asking the boy question the headmaster had ushered Harry and Pansy away. 

Dumbledore had given him and Pansy the portkey that led to his office and now the pair had to wait until he finished settling matters at the ministry. His other friends had been given a separate port key, probably leading them back to the infirmary where Harry and Pansy were actually  _ supposed _ to go after they spoke with the Headmaster. 

Now that the adrenaline had worn off Harry had lost all ability to stand on his right leg. He wasn’t even totally sure what Bellatrix had done to his knee. 

As Harry sat silently across from Dumbledore’s desk. Gone was the horrid pink of Dolores Umbridge and now Dumbledore’s office looked as it always had - as though the bearded man had never left. 

It all felt surreal to Harry. He had come so close to losing his loved ones today; he didn’t know how he’d be able to live with himself if he did. Then again Harry wasn’t sure how he’d live with himself now either. 

Harry did his best to push Bellatrix Lestrange to back of his head. 

Harry, although glad to have Dumbledore back, just wanted to go home to his godfathers, or to the common room to all his friends.

He wanted to be able to reassure himself they were all still here.  _ Real _ . Alive.

“I wonder how he had it all put back so quickly,” Pansy mused in a whisper so as not to wake the resting portraits. Harry could tell she didn’t really care, she was just testing what Harry would be comfortable talking about right now. 

Harry couldn’t find it in himself to talk about Dumbledore’s decorations though. “Am I a bad person?” Harry asked her. He was looking down at his hand intently. 

These hands had done  _ that _ . 

“Of course not!” she assured him. “In moments like that it's you or them, you know that Harry. You did what you had to.”

Harry nodded his head as if he believed her. He  _ didn’t _ . “Are you okay?” Harry asked changing the topic. 

Pansy nodded for a moment. She had a few scrapes but nothing major, not like Neville’s sprained ankle and Hermione’s fractured wrist. 

“I think I’ll live,” she said flatly. They both knew that wasn’t what Harry was referring to. 

Her family would disown her now or risk further punishment by the Dark Lord and his followers. 

“Harry, can I ask you something?” Pansy questioned hesitantly.

Harry nodded as he observed the odd objects collected on Dumbledore’s desk. 

“What was happening when we were first fighting? To us, you looked frozen,” She said, her voice low. 

“They were in my head. The occulmency, they were looking for something,” Harry admitted. 

Pansy nodded to herself. “The Dark Lord?”

Harry shook his head. “Lucius Malfoy.” 

“You should tell Draco,” Pansy said rather abruptly. 

“That his father was in my head?”

Harry was confused. He thought about the memory of Draco, how…  _ attentive _ he was to the other boy, but there was no way Pansy could know about that.

“No, that his father was caught and will face the trial. It’s better he hears about it now, instead of in the morning from his mother in front of everyone or worse, from the other students.”

“Why don’t  _ you _ tell him?” Harry asked. It made more sense to him - it’d be easier for her to get into the Slytherin dorms in the middle of the night.

Pansy shook her head slowly. “He won’t want to hear it from me.”

“Why?”

“I chose my side tonight Harry, and he isn’t ready to face that yet.”

“You chose  _ my  _ side, how does that make hearing it from me easier?” Harry asked incredulously.

Pansy laughed, still doing her best to keep the volume down as not to wake the portraits. “Your side has never been a question, he doesn’t expect differently from you.”

“Even if I wanted to tell him,” Harry argued. “I can’t walk.”

Pansy rolled her eyes and gestured to the cane Dumbledore kept behind his desk. He almost never used it, he’d thrown his back out once last year though and used it for a couple of days. 

“Are you serious?” Harry asked.

\---

It turned out she was. 

After a short argument, Harry found himself seeking out Draco. 

It turned out that Hermione and Pansy had discovered a number of secret passages to the Slytherin and Gryffindor dorms at some point at the beginning of the year. Harry was sure Sirius and Remus would’ve loved to add those to the map when they were students. 

When he’d asked if the castle itself would try to keep him out, like the various traps around the school, possibly how the stairs to the girl’s rooms at Gryffindor kept boys out; Pansy assured him that Slytherins from generations had disabled those precautions. Harry knew that he wasn’t about to sneak into a boys dorm, but he had also never snuck into a different dorms room as a Gryffindor.

There’d been that one time in the second year, but that was from inside Goyle’s body. That seemed different. 

Also given the history between the Gryffindors and Slytherins, Harry wouldn’t be surprised if there were extra precautions put in place to keep them apart.  

According to Pansy, a long time ago the halls to the dorms turned into a maze after curfew, and no one really appreciated that. So the Slytherins had long since put a stop to it. 

Harry was currently sneaking down to the dungeons - a task made infinitely more difficult without his invisibility cloak or map and the cane wasn’t helping either. 

Somehow, he made it to the dungeon without getting caught.  Before the supposed entrance he found a rigid statue of a knight guarding one of the storage rooms. Harry pulled out his wand and recited the password Pansy told him about. The knight nodded and took a step to the side revealing a trap door. Once Harry dropped down into a long hallway, he heard the knight step back onto his platform above Harry, consequently locking Harry in. 

Harry replayed the instructions Pansy had given him in his head. He was currently in the middle of an empty common room. He started to walk down the hall Pansy had told him was right. Harry stopped in front of the door that was second from the end of the hall. He really hoped Pansy hadn’t accidentally given him the wrong instructions.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath before carefully opening the door in front of him. 

It was odd to step into a Slytherin dorm room. It was too dark, and Harry had to cast a faint  _ Lumos _ in order to see at least anything. It was so very green and cold here. It suddenly dawned on Harry that there were no windows in the dungeons. 

Harry spotted the soft blond hair easily and approached Draco while trying not to wake the other boys. 

“Draco,” Harry whispered. Draco remained sound asleep so Harry reached out and placed a careful hand on Draco’s shoulder, shaking the boy softly.

Draco jerked sharply and sat up. His face was too close to Harry’s, their noses almost touching.

Draco blinked slowly. No doubt his eyes were trying to adjust in the darkness.

“Harry?” The softest smile that ever graced Draco’s lips was all Harry could look at that moment. 

Draco’s hand was suddenly reaching up between them. Just as his fingers brushed Harry’s cheek, Draco’s eyes widened and he pulled his hand back as if he’d been burned. The blond shut his eyes and shook his head as if waking himself from a dream. 

“What are you doing here, Potter?” Draco said his voice sharp but also quiet in an attempt not to wake up anyone else in the room. Harry tried not to be thrown off by the use of his last name. It had been so long since he’d been called that by Draco. Then again Harry probably should have thought of the repercussions of sneaking into the Slytherin’s dorms in the middle of the night.  

“Draco … I need to tell you something,” Harry whispered, and Draco nodded before slipping out of bed and pulling Harry behind him as they made their way to the common room. Draco’s eyes lingered on Harry’s cane but he didn’t ask questions.

They stopped just outside the dorm, Draco turned to him with an expressionless face.

“What?” Draco asked, his mask intact.

“Something’s happened.”

“Will you just get on with it already?” Draco was clearly losing his patience, he looked upset. Harry couldn’t help bu feel like his news would only worsen the other boy’s mood.

Harry nodded, more to himself than anything.

“I saw Voldemort at the ministry today,” Harry started. He wasn’t sure why he phrased it like that, made it sound so casual. Like they’d just bumped into each other and then went on with their days.

The concern on Draco’s face as he scanned the stubborn boy before him for injuries was sincere. All the impatience was gone when he asked Harry if he was hurt. The blond once again looking with concern at the leg Harry was currently supporting with the cane.

“I’m fine, the infirmary will have me back to myself soon I’m sure. Draco, that’s not why I’m here … He- your father, he was there too,” Harry rushed it all out in one breath, unsure of what Draco’s reaction would be. 

Silence.

Draco didn’t look surprised though.

“The Ministry took him into custody, he’ll face a trial,” Harry continued.

Draco’s sharp intake of breath was his only reaction. 

“Okay.”

Then he turned sharply to walk away from Harry.

“Wait,” Harry whispered as he reached out and grabbed Draco’s wrist. Draco froze.

Harry knew on some level that he should tell Draco about what his father had seen in his head. He wasn’t sure why, exactly, but it felt important.

“He knows.”

“Knows what, Harry?” Draco asked quietly, his eyes downcast and shoulders tense. 

Harry held his breath for a second. 

_ Never mind. _

_ That you don’t hate me. _

_ That we’re … friends? _

All the possible answers rushed through his head and yet only one that didn’t seem dismissive or accusatory. It wasn’t fair to that Harry was pushing his feelings onto Draco, or at least that was what it felt like. 

Harry knew that Draco couldn’t control the way Harry looked at him, and Harry couldn’t blame Draco for his father's actions.   

“That I want you.”

Draco slowly turned to Harry. He hadn’t meant to say that last part out loud.

“No, you don’t,” Draco’s words were sharp. He jerked his wrist free from Harry’s grip and Harry couldn’t decide which one stung more.

“Excuse me?” Harry asked furiously, thinking who was Draco to tell him what his feelings were?

“You’re  _ Harry Potter, _ ” Draco said accusingly.

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Harry replied sounding almost amused. 

“I’m  _ Draco Malfoy. _ ”

“I know who you are, Draco, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to kiss you,” Harry admitted.

And okay he definitely didn’t mean to admit  _ that _ . Harry was supposed to be giving Draco bad news, not professing whatever  _ this  _ was. 

In the silence that stretched between them, the main entrance to the common room slid open. Dumbledore entered with Pansy following close behind him.

“Good night, Ms. Parkinson. Mr. Potter, what a pleasant surprise. A word in my office, please.”

Draco took the opportunity to walk back to his room. Harry wanted to chase after him but he knew that he couldn’t. Not now. 

Draco had just found out that his father was caught by the Ministry. He was deserved time to process that.

Like Pansy had said earlier, she’d chosen her side tonight.

Draco hadn’t.

And as selfish and impossible the hope was, Harry thought that maybe Draco would choose a side someday soon. The Slytherin had said he was ‘ _ Draco Malfoy _ ’ like that meant his side was already decided. 

Harry wasn’t so sure that was the case. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I'm actually back finally.  
> This chapter marks a few major turning points in Harry's life and the plot so I'm excited about where we go from here!  
> I'd like to give the biggest thank you to my brilliant beta (wouldyoureallyknow on tumblr - check them out!) I know working with me requires a ridiculous amount of patience, but I'm so unbelievably grateful! Also, surprise? there were a few last minute changes to this chapter...  
> Hopefully, the next chapter will be up soon!


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